BAHAWALPUR: The divisional administration is all set to enter The Guinness Book of World Records 2022 by distributing/planting 95,000 saplings within 24 hours in Bahawalpur city where the special tree planting campaign was launched on Thursday.

According to an official handout, Divisional Commissioner Raja Jahangir Anwar inaugurated the campaign along with the students at the Islamia University Model School while entry to the world record had been claimed on the basis of the distribution/plantation of the 95,000 saplings with the coordination of district administration and volunteers of a non-government organisation (NGO).

The free distribution of saplings among the people was held at the total 13 points in a nine-mile long area in the city and suburbs where a large number of citizens, including the students of local institutions, started acquiring the saplings in the morning to plant them at different places.

In this campaign, the cooperation of several educational institutions, including Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB), Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (CUVAS), Government Sadiq College Women University (GSCWU) and the City School, was sought by the administration.

95,000 saplings planted within 24 hours

In order to establish its claim to enter into the world records book, the divisional administration also set up a record centre for this special tree planting drive at the Government Sadiq Dane (SD) High School where the data would be processed and maintained for the physical inspection of the representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Talking to Dawn at the data record centre, the commissioner said there was a tremendous turnout of the enthusiastic students and community members to set this world record.

He said the Bahawalpur city was set to achieve this world record by beating the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which planted 76,000 saplings.

It is expected that Guinness book’s representatives on their arrival would be free to check the distribution and plantation records from the data entry centre.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2022