HYDERABAD: The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and Sindh Forest Department (SFD) on Wednesday signed an agreement to plant trees in Tharparkar and its vicinity
As per the memorandum ,the Sindh Forest department will provide technical support to SECMC for planting of trees and will provide saplings under the Green Pakistan Project free of cost.
Meanwhile ,the forest department will also assist SECMC to grow fodder on saline water in New Senhri Dars Village. Moreover, the company will also be able to get saplings from the government-run nurseries on discounted rates. To keep track of the projects and provide continued technical support, the SFD officials will regularly monitor the project areas of Thar Block II.
The MoU was inked at a signing ceremony organized at Sindh largest private sector nursery, Thar Block II, which was attended by the senior officials and concerned staff of the SECMC and SFD.
Speaking at the ceremony, Chief Conservator SFD, Mr Riaz Ahmed appreciated SECMC for its commendable role in making the region green by taking extraordinary steps for the clean environment and he assured of complete support for the project.
The department’s Deputy Project Coordinator, Shahzad Sadiq said that they would add to SECMC’s efforts to plant significant number of trees in the region.
“The good aspect of the project is that we will be focusing upon planting local species in order to get the survival rate at maximum ,” he added.
Terming the agreement between two a welcome progress for the betterment of the area, SECMC’s General Manager Administration, Mr Ahmed Munib said that they have established the largest nursery of Sindh in Thar Block II in whichthey had been successful in planting 500,000 plants as of now”, he added saying that their target was to plant one million trees to make greener Thar.
Mr Umair Butt, Manager Health Safety and Environment (HSE) at SECMC said that it was not quite easy to plant and care for trees in Tharparkar due to extremely dry and harsh weather conditions in the area. “We are, however, trying to plant more and more local trees which have better survival rate,” he said.
“We are aiming at planting more trees in partnership with Sindh Forest Department’s technical team which would increase our chances of success and improve the rate of survival,” he concluded.
