KARACHI: Sindh Caretaker Minister for Information and Environment, Jameel Yusuf said that civic and environmental issues in Karachi had became compounded owing to the poor performance of the relevant agencies of provincial and local governments over the last several years. He said this while meeting a delegation from National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) on Wednesday. According to the Minister, these civic and government agencies failed to implement the relevant municipal and environmental laws that led to the alarming increase in air pollution, unchecked vehicular emissions, and physical encroachments all over the city. Jameel Yusuf said that government authorities concerned and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should join forces to improve working of the agencies responsible to implement vital civic and environmental laws in the city. He said that trees should be planted all over the city under a full-fledged campaign to promote tree cover in Karachi. He then said that the government, its relevant agencies, and concerned people needed get their act together to remove physical encroachments existing in the city on a massive scale. Jameel Yusuf informed the delegation that caretaker Sindh government would soon convene a meeting of the concerned Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), civil society organisations, representative bodies of industries, and relevant government and municipal agencies to adopt a collective strategy to tackle all these alarming civic and environmental issues persisting in Karachi. Jameel Yusuf stressed on the importance of initiating a full-fledged plantation drive in the metropolis. He said that the corporate sector and associations representing industrial estates in the city should take initiative to improve tree cover in their respective areas. He appreciated plantation drive conducted by NFEH and said that the caretaker provincial government would lend support to further expand this drive in Karachi. He also expressed his serious concern over unchecked construction of high-rise buildings and other commercial projects in the city. He said that the construction of high rise buildings was often in violation of the relevant environmental laws adding that there was a need to strictly implement these laws. Jameel Yusuf promised that caretaker provincial government would try its best to regulate such unchecked construction activities in the city. He said that efforts would also be made to make it binding upon the builders of such commercial buildings to reserve a portion of their projects for the sake of promoting greenery in the city. The caretaker minister for Information and Environment said that Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) should also ensure strict implementation of the environmental laws to reverse the alarming phenomenon of environmental deterioration. He was of the viewpoint that SEPA could play an active role in resolution of serious environmental issues persisting in the province. NFEH President, Naeem Qureshi invited the provincial minister to attend the upcoming 15th Annual Environment Excellence Awards and Conference-2018 as its chief guest. The event will be held in a hotel of the city on July 17, 2018. He told the provincial minister that NFEH would launch its annual plantation drive in Karachi on July 5, 2018 and efforts would be made to plant around 50,000 tree saplings all over the city with support of other like-minded NGOs and representative bodies of businessmen and industrialists. Qureshi also briefed caretaker Sindh minister about the campaigns run by the NFEH to promote the cause of environmental protection in the city. Speaking about a campaign related to the presence of coal yard of Karachi Port Trust, NFEH president Naeem Qureshi said that the coal yard was dumping, storing and transporting coal imported coal near the residential localities of Clifton and this was posing a serious threat to not just the environment of the metropolis but also the health of the residents. He said that Supreme Court finally took notice of the issue and ordered the KPT to immediately stop handling imported coal in the port and nearby areas. Other members of the NFEH delegation who met the provincial minister included Nadeem Ashraf, Mustafa Tahir, Saquib Ejaz Hussain, and John Richard. Published in Daily Times, June 28th 2018.