Punjab has launched a comprehensive wooden plantation campaign under the initiative “Chief Minister Plant for Pakistan” with the aim of planting trees over 48,368 hectares of land in the province.

Senior minister in Punjab, Maryam Aurangzeb, said the goal under the leadership of chief minister Maryam Nawaz is set to plant 42.5 million plants.

For the financial year 2024-25, the plan is to plant 7.361 million trees over 8,496 hectares of land. For this purpose, 1.8 billion rupees are awarded in the current financial year, where 1,085 billion rupees have already used and accounts for 60% of the total budget.

She also mentioned that in the spring season 5,966 million trees would be planted over 6,637 hectares of land. Woodenplantage takes place in over 300 locations over Punjab, including Lahore, Kasur, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Murree, Rawal Pindi, Sargodha and Muzaffargarh.

The project includes a variety of trees such as Moringa, Pine, Neem, Acacia, Shisham, Mustard, Bakaian, Semal and Arjun, along with fruit -bearing trees. These will not only reduce air pollution, but also improve the environmental beauty of the region.

The project, which is expected to cost a total of 8 billion rupees, aims at green forests, river banks, roadsides, Pothohar region, Murree and the desert areas. To date, 2.73 million plants have been planted on 4,000 hectares of land and the project progresses quickly.

Maryam Aurangzeb emphasized that these efforts are not only crucial to environmental protection, but will also lay the basis for a greener and healthier Punjab for future generations.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government will establish parks and horticulture authorities (PHA) at the district level to create a “green Punjab.”

These authorities will focus on eradicating smog pollution, renovating old parks and constructing new ones with a funding of billions of rupees. FAS will operate directly under the Punjab government and bypass the forest department and district administrations.

At present, PHAs are working in ten division headquarters across Punjab, including Lahore, Sahiwal, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan and Gujrat. Their primary task is to maintain parks and build green belts to improve the environment and eliminate smog.

According to the available items, there are three to four large and 40 to 70 small parks in other major cities of Punjab, which were first monitored by the forest department and will now be under PHA’s jurisdiction. There are also about 900 parks and more than 2,000 green belts and parking areas alone in Lahore.