Clean Green Programme to help conserve vegetation on Margalla Hills

Islamabad: The Clean Green Programme launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan would also help protect, preserve and conserve native vegetation and tree cover in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

The proposal has duly been approved by the climate change ministry and now the scientific committee of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) would prepare its recommendations to implement it according to the vision of the prime minister.

The federal government would mainly provide funds for this purpose and philanthropists would also be invited to share common responsibility to protect the Margalla Hills that are considered ‘lungs’ of Islamabad.

The working relationship between the climate change ministry and the IWMB was not good enough in the recent past after submission of a report by the federal audit authorities that raised serious objections against management of IWMB.

The climate change ministry subsequently issued a letter to IWMB chairman Dr. Anees-ur-Rehman on March 31, 2020, asking him to respond to the objections raised by the federal audit authorities.

IWMB chairman Dr. Anees-ur-Rehman is a dentist by profession and has also been running a non-governmental organization (NGO) named the Himalayan Wildlife Foundation (HWF). In his reply, he termed the allegations as concocted and baseless and maintained that he never ever did anything wrong or against the rules and procedures. It is pertinent to mention here that the MHNP has a total area of 175 square kilometres out of which 120 square kilometres consist of the Margalla Hills.

The Clean Green Programme would help take appropriate measures to reduce fire incidents and illegal cutting in cooperation with Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Another main target of the programme would be to remove alien invasive plant species and preserve native vegetation in the Margalla Hills.

The climate change ministry is also planning to organize campaigns under the Clean Green Programme to remove trash from the Margalla Hills like wrappers, plastic bottles and bags, tins, used cans and fruit peels.