RECORDER REPORT
LAHORE (March 05 2010): Punjab Minister for
Agriculture and Forests, Malik Ahmad Ali
Aulakh has said that the provincial
government is paying full attention on
promotion of agriculture, LIVESTOCK and
forests so as to meet the food requirements
of
the province. The government is spending
billions of rupees on research to ensure
progress in all these three sectors, Aulakh
said, while speaking at the inaugural
ceremony of an international conference on 'Shisham'
trees started here on Thursday.
The workshop is being organised by the
Federal Ministry of Environment, Punjab
Forests department and others. The workshop
is
being participated by the experts from South
Asia to discuss the 'quick decline' disease
in shisham tree and look for ways to
prevent them from this problem.
Provincial Minister for forests speaking on
this occasion said that Shisham was
considered one of the expensive tree in the
world. He said a large number of these trees
were damaged due to the quick decline
diseases and if it was not controlled at
the earliest then these trees might extinct
from this region. He said that research was
being carried out in Faisalabad and
assured that the government would try to
consult the research being carried out in
other countries for preventing Shisham
from this disease.
The Minister said that five percent of the
total area of Pakistan was under forests,
which was not only providing expensive
wood for furniture and other purposes but
also meeting the fuel needs. He alleged that
no attention was given in the past on
forests due to which, country was facing
severe hardships. He said that wood
pilferage law was enforced in 1927 under
which
fine was only Rs 500 and other nominal
punishments. Now this act was being amended
which, he hoped, would ensure visible
decline in wood pilferage incidents.
Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh further stated that
spring tree plantation campaign was being
carried out on a fast pace and around 20
million saplings would be planted under this
drive. He said that officers of forests and
LIVESTOCK departments had been
directed to create awareness amongst the
people about importance of tree plantation
by visiting them at union council level.
He said that maximum tree plantation would
ensure an environment pollution free
atmosphere for our coming generation. The
Minister said that special teams had been
constituted to make the spring tree
plantation a success. He said that district
forest officer would be responsible for take
care of plants. He also appealed to the
representatives of NGOs and private
institutions to take part in tree plantation
with full zeal.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2010
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