KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the provincial government to set up a special force for protection of forest land in the province after it was informed that thousands of acres had been occupied by powerful persons.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Omar Sial ordered the Sindh forest secretary to ensure removal of encroachments from forests with the help of Rangers and police.

It directed the law secretary to ensure that requisite amendments were made in the law for the establishment of the forest force.

The bench noted that there was a forest force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab that worked like law enforcement agencies, but such a force did not exist in Sindh and even divisional forest officers did not have vehicles for patrolling.

SHC asks mayor to come up with plan to turn Karachi green

The bench also directed the Karachi mayor to submit details of any project with regard to plantation and turning the provincial metropolis into green city on the models as adopted in metropolitan cities of other countries.

The court was hearing two petitions filed against inaction of authorities about acute deforestation and seeking enforcing of the national forest policy.

The petitioners’ submitted that the respondents had failed to perform their statutory duties and public was suffering on account of their inaction of the acute deforestation of urban areas.

At the outset of the hearing, the forest and wildlife secretary Dr Badar Jameel Mendhro appeared in court in the light of the last order and apprised the bench of the funds received by the department during the past five years, particularly on carbon credit rewards/amounts provided by foreign companies.

The SHC directed the secretary to file copies of the agreement executed between the forest department the companies.

It further asked the secretary to submit a policy about changing the status of forest land in range (barani) land, the record as well as correspondences with a private body on environment about plantation and details of amount received through different companies for such purposes.

The bench asked the chief executive officer of the Delta Company to be in attendance on the next hearing along with complete details of the pacts signed with the forest department and details about board members.

During the proceedings, one of the applicants/interveners filed an application and pointed out that that in Gambat and Sobodero, around 24,000 acres of forest land had been occupied by influential persons and they were irrigating the same as their own property and earning from it.

The bench issued notices on the application to all parties concerned and directed the forest secretary to ensure removal of encroachments with the help of law enforcement agencies.

The bench said it had been reported that in KP and Punjab, there were forest forces like law enforcement agencies. However, in Sindh, no such force existed and even senior forest officers did not have transportation means for patrolling.

At this, the forest secretary informed the bench that they were going to amend the law by introducing the same concept already existing in two other provinces.

“Accordingly, secretary forest & wildlife department and secretary law government of Sindh shall ensure that such amendment(s) shall be at par with other provinces, in case of failure, this court will examine this issue on the judicial side, to pass further direction(s),” the bench in its order ruled.

It adjourned the hearing till Sept 4 and directed the secretary and other senior officials of the department to be in attendance on the next date.

The bench also asked the finance secretary to file the concept of an endowment account fund and whether it was permissible in the law to invest it in Sindh Bank.

The forest secretary in his report stated that an amount of Rs926 million had been incurred on mangrove rehabilitation and conservation activities during the last five years and 80,000 acres of mangroves had been rehabilitated and conserved during this period.

An amount of Rs911m had been allocated during 2023-24 on afforestation of Indus Delta mangroves under the delta blue carbon-I project from the amount received under the sale of carbon credits, it added.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024