ISLAMABAD : On the eve of the World Forestry Day, students of various schools, colleges and universities of the garrison city participated in a plantation drive led by Deputy Commissioner of Rawalpindi Hasan Waqar Cheema. On the occasion, a new nursery Gorakhpur Nursery was also inaugurated. The facility is operating under the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) and is set up at an area of area of 1000 kanals.
The inauguration ceremony was held in Gorakhpur town, a suburb of Rawalpindi, where 1,000 kanal area has been earmarked by the Punjab government for the purpose of a nursery to promote plantation in the country.
Director General (DG), PHA Ahmed Hassan Ranjha also took part in the opening ceremony. On the occasion, hundreds of saplings were planted by the students and the participants.
Hasan Waqar Cheema while welcoming a new, state-of-the-art nursery in Rawalpindi said plants and trees were the need of the hour as Pakistan was facing challenges arising from environmental degradation and global warming. These challenges can only be dealt with by spreading forests and planting trees.
Highlighting the importance and usefulness of forests in the country, he said the forests were the guarantor of human survival on the planet and the provincial government is continuing to take positive steps to deal with the challenges caused by global environmental changes.
The plantation drive and the new nursery are also in line with Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s vision of Green Pakistan to counter the challenges of climate change.
He said it was a matter of great pleasure to inaugurate Gorakhpur Nursery which happens to be one of the largest nurseries in the country in terms of area. He hoped it would play a big role in ensuring the importance and usefulness of forests in Punjab and across the country.
DG PHA Ahmed Hasan Ranjha said Gorakhpur Nursery would prove to be an important milestone in the ongoing initiatives of the Punjab government regarding Green Pakistan from where large scale planting of trees will be done. He said that PHA Rawalpindi had also launched a plantation drive in the city and in this regard, free saplings are being distributed to the public to ensure the success of the plantation drive in the public sector.
The plants and saplings will be supplied in the coming months from the Gorakhpur Nursery to various institutions as a variety of plants and grasses will be produced here. He said that less than 5 percent of Pakistan’s total land area consists of forests, which is a matter of concern and the growth of forests in Pakistan can be ensured only by measures like continuous plantation.
Students from various schools and colleges of Rawalpindi, especially Viqar-Nisa Graduate College and Fatima Jinnah Women University also participated in the drive and planted saplings with their own hands.
