KARACHI, July 26: The city government’s Parks and Horticulture Department (PHD) has started pruning the trees along both sides of Sharea Faisal in order to enable them to cope with rough weather during the current monsoon season.

Officials said they had started the campaign on Wednesday and the department had been tasked by the authorities to accomplish the task within two weeks.

Eucalyptus trees form the majority of trees lined up along the two sides of the city’s premier artery.

Lately, the officials of the city’s municipality and the DHA had cut down countless trees — the majority of them eucalyptus — arguing that these trees were damaging water and sewerage mains. Some officials had even announced that they would not plant eucalyptus in the future.

Environmentalists claim that some 5,000 trees were cut down during the tenure of former city nazim Niamatullah Khan, while over 1,000 trees have been chopped down during the present set-up.

A PHD official said that, contrary to past claims, the department had found eucalyptus useful for a city like Karachi.

“It helps sustain the subsoil water level to a safer level and protects the buildings and structures from seepage,” said an official.