Daily Times

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar Wednesday said the government would commemorate the ‘Tiger Force’ day on August 9 by planting one million trees in every nook and cranny of the country.

Addressing a news conference, he said, the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Tiger Force (CRTF) would assist the government departments in carrying out the massive tree plantation drive across the country.

“The ‘Tiger Force’ day will be marked with full zeal and fervour and the milestone of planting one million trees in one day will be achieved with the help of volunteers of tiger force,” he added.

The SAPM said the District Forest Officers had been directed to provide plants to all the local administrations after identifying the locations for plantation. Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners would coordinate with the CRTF members to facilitate them in reaching the identified spots, where they would help the government officials in planting saplings.

“There was a record of planting 600,000 saplings in a day but this time, Prime Minister has announced to plant 1,000,000 trees in one day with the help of tiger force. We will set a new record on August 9,” he remarked.

Usman Dar said the CRTF would be seen carrying out the plantation drive from Karachi to Bannu on the occasion of ‘Tiger Force’ day. “Our chief ministers, governors, parliamentarians, Prime Minister himself and MPAs will take part in this drive.” He said about half a million trees would be planted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only. The province had already received worldwide acclaim for planting one billion trees in the past.

The SAPM said the ‘green selfie’ feature had been installed in the ‘tiger force app’, introduced by the Punjab Information Technology Board to register the work of CRTF volunteers.

He said the application was also meant to empower the volunteers. For instance, the CRTF members could directly report the violations of anti-COVID SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to the local administrations directly with this application.

Usman Dar lamented the opposition for ridiculing the CRTF and pointed out its worldwide acknowledgment. He said recently the All-China Youth Federation has requested the government of Pakistan to share operational details of the CRTF.

The SAPM said he had invited Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal for oath taking ceremony of the tiger force in his constituency but he did not show up to even appreciate them for their voluntary services.

He said the tiger force came forward in peak time of the corona to assist the local administration in curbing the coronavirus spread without any compensation. Even, T-shirts, caps and jackets were provided by the philanthropists to appreciate their national fervor, he added.

He appealed the Sindh government to engage 154,000 registered volunteers of the tiger force to provide additional support to the local administrations of the province in conducting rescue and relief activities in their respective areas.

He urged Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to review his decision and activate the tiger force in province at the earliest.

To a query, the SAPM said over 300,000 CRTF volunteers had been performing various duties in multiple districts for the last four months. The tiger force would be rewarded for their unmatchable services. Three categories of certificates including gold, silver and bronze would be given to them on the basis of their performances, he added.