Solar Park project: Cholistan’s precious trees being illegally sold

Published October 10, 2015
It is learnt that these contractors have sold these ‘keekar’ trees in the open market during the last one month or so.  — Photo Courtesy: Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt) Ltd
It is learnt that these contractors have sold these ‘keekar’ trees in the open market during the last one month or so. — Photo Courtesy: Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt) Ltd

BAHAWALPUR: Contractors hired by a foreign company for the Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park (QASP) project are allegedly making a fast buck by disposing of trees worth millions of rupees from the vast area.

It is learnt that these contractors have sold these ‘keekar’ trees in the open market during the last one month or so.

Cholistan’s thousands of acre land having countless trees had been transferred under Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s directive by the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA) Bahawalpur to the Punjab Energy Department at the launch of the 1,000 megawatt QASP in 2013.

In the first phase, a 100MW unit of the project was commissioned in an area of 500 acres of reserved land this past May by the prime minister.

The Cholistan land had to be added to the project and the energy department entrusted this task to a foreign company which further gave a contract to some persons to clear the desert area off the existing hundreds of thousands of trees for installation of solar panels.

Sources said the contractors had started removing trees from the park area more than a month ago and already sold many of these in the market rather than their auction by the energy department. They loaded trees onto tractor-trolleys at night and after seeking gate passes from the exit points managed to dispose of these, earning millions.

Bahawalpur District Coordination Officer Imran Sikandar told Dawn that the district revenue department had nothing to do with the land where trees were illegally being removed. The Cholistan Development Authority or the Punjab Energy Department could better tell about it, he said.

CDA Managing Director Naeem Bokhari could not be contacted as he is abroad these days, while CDA Director Rana Shahid Nadeem was busy in a meeting in Lahore and did not respond.

Conservator Forests Bahawalpur Division Faisal Haroon and DFO Qazi Khalid of Lal Sohanra National Park, from where the said land of solar park had been slashed, told this correspondent that it was not within their purview to check the alleged sale of trees from the solar park.

Bahawalpur District Police Officer Sarfraz Ahmad Falki said he would check it from the SP posted in the solar park.

Punjab Energy Department Secretary Asad Gilani said the issue was not in his knowledge but he would probe the complaint.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.
Concerning measures
Updated 03 Nov, 2024

Concerning measures

The govt must seek political input and consensus on the changes it is seeking to make and be open about its intentions.
Short-lived relief?
03 Nov, 2024

Short-lived relief?

POLICYMAKERS must be jumping with joy. At the close of the first quarter of FY25, the budget posted a consolidated...
Brisk spread
03 Nov, 2024

Brisk spread

THE surge in polio cases has reached distressing levels with a tally of 45 last reported, after two cases emerged in...