KARACHI, Sept 12: The University of Karachi has become the first educational institution in the country to have a botanical garden having a facility of study and research on flora. The garden was inaugurated by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, who is also chancellor of the university, here on Wednesday.

Dr Ibad said the government was paying due attention to projects that helped in the preservation of nature,” he said.

He praised KU Vice-chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim for his efforts towards establishing the Botanical Garden, and said the government was spending heavily on education. “In the past, only 0.2 per cent of the GDP used to be spent under this head but the present government increased the allocation to two per cent,” he pointed out. He said projects costing around Rs1.3 billion were being executed while an amount of Rs8 billion was being spent in the public sector universities in Sindh on almost 80 projects. He said he would inaugurate a public park at old Clifton, and also promised that a centre for plant conservation would be established soon.

Dr Mohammad Qaisar, while speaking at the programme, said that such gardens would prove vital in the research on flora.

“This is the first institution to have such a garden, one of its kind in Pakistan, that will conduct the documented study of the collected plant species,” he noted. He said the university wanted to preserve the plants and species found on the campus.

The vice-chancellor said that the garden would be meant only for those who wanted to conduct research of some sort on plants. However, he added, students of various institutions would be invited to see and learn about various kinds of plants in Pakistan.