500 uprooted trees replanted, PHC told

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was told on Thursday that 500 trees were replanted in various places of the city which had come in the Bus Rapid Transit project.

During a hearing into the progress report about environmental issue and traffic problem of the BRT case, Peshawar Development Authority Director General, Israrul Haq, informed the bench that about 700 plants were uprooted from the roadsides and out of those 500 were replanted at various beautiful locations in Hayatabad and other places. Besides, he claimed, 97,000 new plants were planted through a plantation drive. He said the PDA would plant new saplings after completion of the BRT project as to make the whole city clean and green and environment friendly.

Explaining the progress report, the PDA head informed a division bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Abdul Shakoor that the PDA continued water sprinkling on the roads thrice a day to settle the dust that rises due to construction work on the BRT project. The court directed the PDA to guide people on traffic jam issue and provide people phone numbers for getting information on the status of the traffic on various roads to let them know which roads were cleared for vehicles and which ones were jammed.

During the hearing, DG Environmental Protection Agency, Dr Bashir, said he had held a meeting with the contractors and they had decided to install boards and fix times for water sprinkling on the roads.