SWAT: Nobody would be allowed to harm the natural beauty of Swat, said Malakand Commissioner Syed Zaheerul Islam on Tuesday.

He was presiding over a meeting about illegal crushing plants and gravel mining in the Swat River at his office. RPO Ijaz Khan, Swat Deputy Commissioner Junaid Khan, Malakand Deputy Commissioner Rehan Gul and officials of Environmental Protection Agency, mines and minerals and irrigation departments also attended the meeting.

The meeting was told that several crushing plants were set up in and around the Swat River and frequent excavations to extract construction material was carried out there. The participants of the meeting were briefed by officials of mines and minerals department.

The Swat deputy commissioner said on the occasion that about 63 plants were identified in the district for taking legal action against them.

The Malakand commissioner directed the officials of mines and minerals department to devise a plan and use all the resources to find a comprehensive solution to the issue.

He also directed the district administration to extend full support to the department in that regard.

“Illegal crushing plants were not acceptable in any case. The illegal excavation, gravel mining and crushing must be stopped immediately and all administrative options should be used for the purpose,” he said.

He said that natural beauty of Swat was being harmed by such illegal activities but no one would be allowed to do so.

He directed all the relevant departments to work together to restore the natural beauty of Swat.

The commissioner said that government enacted effective laws for the mines and minerals sector and if the institutions worked diligently, the natural beauty of Swat could be saved.

TREES: The civil society members have shown concerns over illegal cutting of trees in Nawagai village of Barikot tehsil and demanded of the government to take strict action against the culprits.

They said that some residents of Nawagai cut the old olive trees at a roadside graveyard.

They demanded of the government to take strict action against the culprits and launch a vast scale plantation campaign in the urban areas of Swat.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021