KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Friday directed forest department to launch an anti-encroachment drive against the land grabbers of forest land and plant trees on its vacant land.
This he said while talking to Forest Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Chief Conservator Aijaz Nizamani and other officials of the department who had attended the inaugural ceremony of Spring Tree Plantation Campaign 2018 in which the chief minister planted a palm tree at CM House.
The campaign has simultaneously been started in all 29 districts of the province with a target of planting over half a million saplings on the inaugural day.
The campaign aims at planting mainly the local species of tree saplings in public and community places such as educational institution, bus stops, roadsides and etc.
Sindh Education Foundation-run schools have also been actively involved in the campaign all over the province.
The Chief Minister also emphasized planting and protection of trees and forests in all ecological regions of Sindh ranging from coastal mangrove ecosystem to riverine forests and sustainable use of land resources in barrage areas of the province.
The CM also appreciated the Sindh Forest Department on successful mangrove-plantation spanning over the last two decades and directed the department to come up with a dynamic strategy for forest rehabilitation in riverine and irrigated plantation areas of the province.