Private sector in Peshawar has initiated a drive to restore the city’s lost natural glory
By Hasan Khan
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/
The 20,000 exotic and decorous saplings to be planted by Iqra University Peshawar, would, help restore the fast diminishing beauty of roadsides in Peshawar, once known as the City of Flowers.
The areas identified by the university administration to bring under foliage, are some 10 kilometers sections of the busy University and Khyber roads and on a number of premises of educational institutions and public parks. An important aspect of the 15-day monsoon campaign, besides plantation, is the awareness to be created among school and college students and faculty members about saving the existing flora of this historical city. At an inaugural ceremony of the campaign, the provincial governor stressed participation of common people, particularly, the students to bring Peshawar once again under a green cover.
Unfortunately, it took too long for the people and well-off citizenry of Peshawar to change the popular behaviour of leaving every thing to government-run institutions. The mismanagement and ‘damn-care’ attitude of the city planners in the past has played havoc with the environment. In a routine practice, thousands of saplings are planted twice a year for the last 50 years but the ground situation is going the other way. Government agencies carry out plantation as a part of their duty, however, after planting the saplings they leave them at the mercy of nature.
Besides the massive plantation campaign, the Iqra University has created two beautiful monuments at the cost of millions of rupees at busy crossings and developed greenery on five kilometers medians on the main University Road. This nascent culture introduce by the university in Peshawar would help stop further depletion of the available flora. It would also serve as an example for other educational institutes and scores of non-governmental orgainsations to contribute their shares to the beautification of the city.
“I came with an idea to restore the past glory of this historical city,” says project director of Iqra University Obaidur Rehman. “Tree plantation blends eminently with our principle mission of education. We strongly believe that planting trees and planting generations of educated young men and women, with best human qualities and skills, are the two equally essential phenomena for socially and environmentally sustainable regeneration and development of a nation.”
“Hardly twenty years back Peshawar was famous for thick old green foliage,” says octogenarian Khalid Sultan. Sultan, a retired college professor, while recalling the good old days informs that Peshawar housed more than a dozen public parks with beautiful lush greens lawns, blossoming gardens and thick old trees. Now the parks are deserted and all the trees along roadsides and government buildings have been removed.
The heaviest damages to foliage in the city was done by the civic bodies as without planting new trees, they cut down many of the ageing trees which were hundreds of years old. There was a need for preserving these old trees for the sake of city’s deteriorating environment; but instead the city planners cut them mercilessly for pity reasons like expanding roads, creating pavements, establishing security check posts, making car parks and rebuilding some of the old buildings.
Unbelievably, the cantonment authorities, a year back, cut down a 100-year old sheesham tree just to make a ‘Rain Bird’ waterfall noticeable at the corner of the lone recreational Khalid Bin Walid Park in heart of the city. The Rain Bird was built under an old sheesham tree. Interestingly, when the structure was completed the planners realised that the profound shade of the tree casting over the area made the waterfall unnoticeable. With a simple solution in hand the tree was cut down, but unfortunately as usual, the waterfall was also left unattended later on, and today it is another deserted structure amongst scores others. “All these old trees were planted by the British,” says an employee of the Khalid Bin Walid Park in Cantonment area, while pointing his finger at old pepal trees.
The banners displayed by the Iqra management at various corners in the city make a thought provoking reading about planting trees and their importance: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago and the second best time is now.” This is an eye-opener for the dwellers of the city. If the city fathers as well as the common folk had taken up the issue of removing the old trees and their impact on environment twenty years back, the city would not have presented the look of a desert today.
If the steps taken by the management of Iqra University were followed by hundreds of other private and public educational institutions, it would be no exaggeration to claim that the past glory of Peshawar as a city of gardens would have been restored within a short span of twenty years.
The Iqra management should expand its campaign to other areas of the metropolis as the statistics released to the press show that many of the 20,000 saplings would be planted in the Cantonment areas and already established parks.
An environmentalist, while talking to Political Economy at the launching ceremony of monsoon tree plantation campaign, suggested to government to bind all educational institutions, particularly, the private ones to plant a certain numbers of trees on their premises. Moreover, he said many of the organisations have already shown interest in beautification of some busy squares and parts of the roads. These departments want to build beautiful structures or develop the squares, which would either be named after the department concerned or a small advertisement board of the department be erected there. The government must honour their interest, as without spending a penny many beautiful spots could be created in the fast deteriorating environment.
In Pakistan only 2% of the area is under forest cover which is far below the internationally recognised minimum 25% area of country needed to be under trees.
In the NWFP 17% of the area is under forests and, besides saving this from ruthless deforestation, there is a need to convert 25% of the total area.