RAWALPINDI: Punjab government has started a big tree planting campaign called “Chief Minister Plant for Pakistan.” The goal is to plant trees on 48,368 acres of land across the province.
As per report, Senior Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz set a target of planting 42.5 million saplings. For the 2024-25 fiscal year, the plan is to plant 7.361 million trees on 8,496 acres. The budget for this is 1.8 billion rupees, and 1.085 billion rupees, or 60%, has already been used.
In the spring season, 5.966 million trees will be planted on 6,637 acres. This is happening at over 300 places in Punjab, like Lahore, Kasur, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Murree, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and Muzaffargarh.
The campaign includes trees like Moringa, Pine, Neem, Acacia, Shisham, Mustard, Bakaian, Semal, and Arjun, plus fruit trees. These trees will help clean the air and make the area look nicer.
The total cost of the project is 8 billion rupees. It will cover forests, riverbanks, roadsides, the Pothohar region, Murree, and desert areas. So far, 2.73 million saplings have been planted on 4,000 acres, and the work is moving fast. Maryam Aurangzeb said this project will protect the environment and help create a greener, healthier Punjab for the future.
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The Punjab government also plans to set up Parks and Horticulture Authorities (PHA) in every district for a “Green Punjab.” These groups will work to reduce smog, fix old parks, and build new ones with billions of rupees in funding. They will report directly to the Punjab government, not the Forest Department or district offices.
Right now, PHAs are active in ten main cities, including Lahore, Sahiwal, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Gujrat. Their job is to take care of parks and make green belts to improve the environment and fight smog.
Records show that in major Punjab cities, there are three to four big parks and 40 to 70 small ones. These were first managed by the Forest Department but will now be handled by the PHA. In Lahore alone, there are about 900 parks, over 2,000 green belts, and parking areas.
