LAHORE:The Punjab government would launch the spring tree plantation campaign from Tuesday, in connection with Prime Minister’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme.
The authorities have set a target of planting 74 million saplings during the drive, which would continue till the end of April.
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal presided over a meeting through video-link to review the arrangements for the campaign, at the Civil Secretariat here on Monday.
The chief secretary directed the relevant departments to play their role for making the campaign a success. He also asked the officials to ensure full participation of civil society and scouts in the plantation campaign. He said that all arrangements should be made to look after a sapling after it is planted. He also issued instructions to start a community mobilisation and awareness campaign about the benefits of trees.
The forest secretary told the meeting that 74 million saplings would be planted in Punjab: 32.86 million in government forests, 8.78 million in defence department, 7.98 million in other departments and 24.45 million on private lands. He said that 46.5 million saplings had been planted against a target of 45.4 million during the monsoon plantation drive and the success rate remained 102 per cent.
The administrative secretaries of relevant departments including local government, irrigation, and education attended the meeting while divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and directors general of PHAs participated through video-link.