The Punjab government has decided to revamp its 'forest policy' after every 10 years to make it in line with the contemporary needs. Improvements and changes introduced in the federal forest policy will also be incorporated in to the Punjab forest policy.
'The existing forest policy was devised some 17 years back and could not face the present day's challenges,' said Punjab Minister for Forests, Wildlife and Fisheries Mian Yawar Zaman while chairing a meeting here on Tuesday. The meeting was convened to discuss revamping of the forest policy.
It was disclosed at the meeting that the provincial forest department planted 20.334 million saplings over 25,000 acres of land from 2014-2017 under the provincial forest policy. The meeting informed that under Annual Development Programme 2017-18, the department would plan 2.951 million saplings on 4066 acres of land under ongoing programmes while 544,500 saplings would be planted under new schemes over an area of 7500 acres of land. While 4.67 million saplings would be planted on 8,549 acres of land under 'Green Pakistan' programme.
The Punjab Minister directed the Secretary Forest to constitute committees comprising officers of the forest department and the police which should follow the cases in courts regarding illegal possession over forest department's land. Secretary Forests Captain Jahanzeb Khan (retd) informed the meeting that immediate steps were being taken to make extension wing of the department active. He said mapping process of forests is also in the progress while help from drone cameras are also being sought in this regard. He claimed that dream of greener Punjab would be materialized in next three years.
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