Around 3000 free plants were distributed among the students of Chitral University during the Green Day in a simple but impressive ceremony held at the University auditorium on Sunday. Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Zahir Shah was the chief guest at the event, while Assistant Commissioner Chitral Dr. Muhammad Atif Jalib, Heads of Forest Department, Agriculture Department, Water and Soil Conservation Department and other departments of the Varsity also participated in the ceremony. Addressing on the occasion, experts said that since Chitral was a dry region where the mountains were often barren due to the lack of monsoon rains, therefore the people of Chitral had more responsibility to plant trees everywhere to control the lack of forests.
The Vice-Chancellor welcomed the guests and said that plants were not only essential for the survival of the humanity, but also fulfill all the needs of life from human beings to animals. He urged the participants to plant as many trees as possible to avoid the negative effects of climate change and make them successful. Divisional Forest Officer Asif Ali Shah also highlighted the importance of plants and trees and said that natural disasters could not be prevented until we control the deforestation. These trees and plants not only provide us fresh Oxygen, but also act as natural check dams to reduce the speed of flash floods, he added.
Director Admin Prof. Dr. Muhammad Nadeem thanked all the participants and urged all the stakeholders, especially the students, to convey these useful messages to their family members and neighborhoods and also create awareness among the people about the importance of forests.
Later, all the participants including the Vice Chancellor also planted saplings in the lawn of the Chitral University.
On this occasion, 3,000 plants were distributed among the students free of cost including 2,000 fruit plants and 1,000 wild plants. Later twhile alking to APP, the Vice Chancellor said that after the disastrous flood last year, it was recognized on the international level that more forests could save such disasters. The whole world has seen the negative effects of climate change and due to this devastating flood, more than 50 billion $ dollars was lost in the homeland and many people died and many people were displaced.
Students of the University said that plants were very important for their life because plants were not only a tree but were also a new life. They said that most of the forests were being cut in Chitral and people were forced to do so because they burn these firewoods for cooking and heating purposes as there was no alternative fuel here. Dr. Nadeem said that whenever the natural calamity was happened, many lives were lost and property worth billions of rupees was also damaged. If the people are provided electricity at subsidized rates or cheap gas as an alternative fuel, then they will not burn wood. The natural calamities can be avoided by reducing the burden on forests, they expressed.
Lecturer of Botany Department Hafeezullah said we should plant more saplings as a charity campaign because the more saplings we plant, the more we can avoid the negative effects of the environment and climate change. A large number of students of Chitral University, teachers, administration officers, representatives of Forest Department, Police, Water Conservation and other departments also participated in the tree-plantation drive.
