Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan inaugurated the monsoon tree plantation campaign last Tuesday, a news source reported. He initiated the campaign by planting an on oriental chinar tree at Peshawar Zoo.
An official statement revealed that this comprehensive plantation drive will be extended to regional and district levels of the province. According to the details provided by the Forest Department, the campaign will include plantation of saplings in different areas as follows:
451 million saplings in central southern region-I
152 million saplings in northern forest region-II, Abbottabad
843 million saplings forest region-III, Malakand
935 million saplings in the newly merged tribal districts
The campaign will involve the planting of a total of 12.5 million saplings during monsoon. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the CM stated that the KP government will plant one billion trees as part of the Prime Minister’s (PM) 10 billion trees campaign.
CM Khan revealed that the provincial government had halted deforestation by taking action against timber mafia. He added that after the previous one billion tree project in KP, forest cover had increased by 6.3% in the province, along with creating jobs for more than 500,000 people.
