KMC allegedly bars green activists from working in adopted parks

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has allegedly refrained the activists affiliated with the green campaign from planting trees in parks that they had adopted, a private media outlet reported on Sunday.

Urban Forest Initiative founder Shehzad Qureshi claimed that KMC has cancelled their adoption of the parks, accusing the activists of not working properly on their green campaign.

He stated this in a video message on social media, adding that the parks were adopted last year on the basis of performance in a pilot project.

The papers from KMC were signed in May, but when the activists started their work in August they were stopped soon after, in September, he said.

Qureshi added the authorities told them their plan had to be approved but kept them in waiting until he met Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, who gave him a go-ahead.

However, during this period, the park was filled with trash. Due to this, the work was delayed as it took an entire month to clear the trash.

Finally, the work started in February, in which people from various walks of life participated, he said.

More than 3,000 people have planted around 6,500 trees in the park under the Urban Forest Initiative, Qureshi further said, adding that they had to plan another 2,500 but were barred from doing so.

Qureshi said he tried to contact the mayor and director general of the parks but to no avail, and therefore posted the video on social media to make himself heard and to highlight the issue.