Daily Times

On the direction of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, a tree plantation drive is being held on the eve of International Day of Forests from Friday (March 21) across the province. According to the vision of the Chief Minister, it has been decided to create a ‘Green Zone’ around mosques, shrines and kilns for which 12,000 places have been earmarked. For the first time, every plant will undergo geo-tagging in the tree plantation campaign.

A special tree plantation drive is also being launched in the city under the “Lungs of Lahore” and “Ring of Lahore”. The campaign is titled as “To Plant a Tree”. Distribution of saplings has also started among the public. An awareness campaign has also been launched in schools, colleges and universities. Awareness seminars, speech competitions and painting competitions will also be held in educational institutions and the importance of tree plantation drive will be highlighted by giving religious references in Friday prayer sermons.

For the plantation drive, targets have been assigned to the commissioners and deputy commissioners of all districts along with it, local political leaders and workers have also been directed to participate in the plantation drive. Staff of the health department and other government institutions will also participate in the campaign along with the ministers.

On the direction of CM Punjab, a special dashboard has been set up for carrying out direct monitoring of the plantation drive besides, data will be uploaded on the mobile app. Under the ‘Plant for Pakistan’ drive, plantation will be done on private and government universities, housing societies, government offices and uninhabited lands. Plantation will be done on 5,500 acres of vacant industrial land and records will be preserved through video recording.

The Chief Minister has appealed to all sections of society, including scholars, Mashaikh, teachers, students, lawyers, doctors, farmers, labourers, media, educational, commercial, social, business institutions, industries and factories to vigorously participate in the tree plantation drive.

The target of planting 15 million trees has been set for the tree plantation drive during a meeting chaired by Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb. The Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that a public awareness campaign is inevitable to spread the message of ‘Plant for Pakistan’ – ‘Every citizen, one tree’. She added, “If we plant trees today, the lives of future generations will be protected.”

Separately, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, in her message on the International Day of Nowruz, said, “Nowruz portrays various cultures, shared traditions and values. Nowruz is such a festival which strengthens ties between the families, communities and nations.”

The Chief Minister congratulated all the nations celebrating Nowruz across the globe on the arrival of spring season. Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Pakistan also participate in the festivities of Nowruz.

The CM said, “Hope, happiness is the universal message of Nowruz as it reflects the universal desire for renewed joy, peace and prosperity.”