KARACHI: Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar has directed the provincial forest and wildlife departments to start GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping of Khirthar National Park land, cancel illegal allotments and retrieve illegally occupied forest land.

He issued the directives at a meeting at the CM House, which was attended by Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, PS to CM Hassan Naqvi, secretary of forest and wildlife departments Najam Shah, Finance Secretary Kazim Jatoi, and other officers concerned.

Mr Najam Shah informed the chief minister that the province had 3.4 million acres of forest land.

He said the irrigated plantations were in the command area of Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages and received water from the canal network, adding that these were also called inland or man-made forests.

“The riverine forests are located along the Indus River between the earthen embankments and are dependent on annual inundation,” he told the CM, adding: “Range Lands (Barani Lands) are in the desert and Kohistan areas of Sindh and are dependent on rainfall. The range lands of Sindh are of key importance both in terms of extent and socio-economic impact.”

He said that the mangrove forests located along the coastline in Karachi, Thatta, and Badin districts were environmentally, ecologically, and economically important, and their dependence for growth and stability was on the receipt of freshwater below Kotri barrage and sediment load.

Answering a question by the chief minister, Mr Shah said that out of 232,205.7 acres of encroached forest land, 191,175.2 acres had been retrieved, and still 41,030.5 acres were under encroachment.

On this, the chief minister directed the department to retrieve the encroached land with the help of district police and Rangers. “I won’t allow even an inch of the forest land to be retained by the encroachers,” he said.

Illegally allotted forest land

The chief minister was told that 34,713.05 acres of forest land were illegally allotted, of which 21,274.56 acres had been cancelled.

The chief minister directed the forest department to cancel the remaining illegal allotment of 13,438.49 acres and report him.

Baqar directed the Chief Secretary to get the GIS mapping of all the forest and wildlife land right from Khirthar National Park Karachi to the rest of the province.

He also directed the wildlife and forest departments to carve out boundary of the National Khirthar Park from Karachi to Dadu with barbed wire and make its GIS mapping.

“I will not tolerate encroachment on the lands of National Khirthar Park in Karachi up to Dadu district. If anything happens to this land, I will hold the forest and wildlife departments accountable,” he said categorically.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023