KARACHI, July 3: The city nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, has said that the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has allocated an amount of Rs1.8 billion for environment-related initiatives in its budget for the financial year 2008-09.

He was speaking as chief guest at an environment excellence award ceremony on Wednesday night.

The provincial minister for environment and alternative energy, Askari Taqvi, presided over the ceremony.

The city nazim said that his government had started planting trees along some major roads like Sharea Faisal, Karsaz Road, New M. A. Jinnah Road, University Road and Rashid Minhas Road, under its Green Karachi project, and the city would have more than 100,000 new plants by the end of December 2008.

Mr Kamal pointed out that active participation from Karachiites was also very much required in the care and protection of the trees, while cutting of trees in the city had already been prohibited.

“Anyone found violating the ban can be handed over to the police also”, he said, adding that the tree plantation campaign had been aimed at eradicating environmental pollution and to make the city green.

Mr Kamal also appealed the media to play its due role in creating awareness about the care and protection of trees.

The nazim urged the industrial sector in the private sector as well to contribute towards the betterment of the environment and take measures to make the industrial areas of the city free of pollution.

The city nazim said that currently around 410 million gallons of sewage was being released untreated into the sea every day.

To overcome the problem a PC-1 had been prepared with regard to the establishment of a sewage treatment plant of 600 million gallons daily capacity and the president of Pakistan had also approved an amount of Rs8 billion for the purpose, the nazim was quoted as saying in a communication released by the organisers of the ceremony.

The Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternative Energy, Askari Taqvi, said that more than 80 per cent of the industrial and commercial organisations did not observe environment standards, but the provincial government would certainly go against the law violators by the book.

Quoting a report prepared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the provincial minister said that every year around 30,000 died in the country due to pollution.

Dr Kaiser Waheed, Mohammad Naeem Qureshi, Secretary Environment Mir Hussain Ali, Dr Samiuz Zaman, Dr Basheer Syed (USA), Dr Nasim Ahmed and others also spoke.

Later as many as 37 companies and three media organisations were awarded for working for the betterment of the environment.