The Supreme Court Wednesday summoned all the forest secretaries in person in the next hearing and directed the provinces to submit reports on tree plantation projects within a month.
A two-member SC bench – comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan – summoned the secretaries while hearing a suo motu case about the fast depleting forests in the country.
The court expressed annoyance over the absence of Secretary Forest KP. The chief justice remarked that hotels and rest houses were built on the Margalla hills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Trees have also been cut down in Kumrat, Swat and Nathia Gali and the forest department’s timber business is running, as deliveries are being supplied to homes,” he added.
He said trees were being cut down and construction was being done in the national park area.
Justice Ijaz said Margalla Hills were part of National Park and asked how could there be construction.
Additional Advocate General KP said he would review Margalla Hills and submit a report.
The chief justice asked what would be done with the mountains that had been allotted. KP forest department officials claimed that the department had planted 190 million trees across the province.
Upon this, Justice Ijaz remarked that if so many trees were planted, the entire province would be filled with greenery. “All the work has been handed over to Allah Almighty by throwing seeds in the province. Where did they get the plants for 190 million trees?”
The chief justice asked the officials not to try to impress the court by showing foreign media reports. He said the whole city of Peshawar was deserted.
Justice Ijaz sought a comprehensive report on the federal government’s ’10 billion tree tsunami’ initiative, highlighting the exact number of trees as well as the areas where they had been planted.
The reason for asking for the record was that the trees did not appear in the papers only, he added.
The chief justice said there should be forests everywhere in the KP.
Secretary Forest Sindh appeared before the bench and stated that 570 million trees had been planted in the province.
The chief justice responded that he did not think the Sindh government had spent any money on planting trees.
If Rs2,323 million had been spent on trees, the whole of Sindh would had been green., he said.
Justice Ijaz asked on how much area there was forest in the Sindh. The secretary replied that Sindh had forests on 2.7 million acres of land. Out of 10 billion tsunami, 3 billion trees are being planted in Sindh, he added.
The chief justice said that the plant that grew in Sindh was eaten by goats. He said there were encroachments on the forest land from Karachi to Thatta and asked the provincial government to grow forests using all resources.
Addressing the Secretary Forest Balochistan, the chief justice said trees were being cut down and burnt in Ziarat. He said there were no trees from Chaman to Quetta. He asked the secretary why trees could not be planted in the mountains of Quetta. The secretary replied that trees needed soil and water, while the mountains of Balochistan were rocky.
He said around 22 million trees would be planted along the Lasbela and Coastal Highways. He said the forest department in collaboration with the army had initiated tree planting projects in Balochistan.
The chief justice directed the secretary to plant trees on Karachi-Gwadar Coastal Highway. The court ordered all provincial secretaries of forests to submit reports on tree planting projects within a month and adjourned hearing.
