Justice Baqar orders GIS Mapping of Forest & Wildlife lands, installation of barbed wire to carve out National Khirthar Park from Karachi KARACHI Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has directed the Forest & Wildlife Department to start GIS mapping of Khirthar National Park land, cancel illegal allotments and retrieve illegally occupied forest land. He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting at CM House. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Dr. Fakhre Alam, PSCM Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Forest Najam Shah, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Chief Conservator Forest Riaz Wagan, Conservator Wildlife Javed Mahar, and other concerned officers. Secretary Forest & Wildlife Najam Shah briefing the CM said that the province has 3.4 million acres of forest land. The Irrigated plantations are in the command area of Guddu, Sukkur, and Kotri Barrages and receive water from the canal network. These are also called Inland or Man-made forests. The Riverine Forests are located along the river Indus between the earthen embankments and are dependent on annual inundation. Range Lands (Barani Lands) are in the Registan and Kohistan Areas of Sindh and are dependent on rainfall. The rangelands of Sindh are of key importance both in terms of extent and socio-economic impact. Mangrove forests are located along the coastline in Karachi, Thatta, and Badin Districts. They are environmentally, ecologically, and economically important. Their dependence for growth and stability is on the receipt of fresh water below Kotri Barrage and sediment load. Forest land: To a question, Najam Shah told the CM that out of 232,205.7 acres of encroached forest land 191,175.2 acres have been retrieved and still 41,030.5 acres were under encroachment. At this, the CM directed the department to retrieve the still encroached land with the help of district police and Rangers. “I won’t allow even an inch of the forest land to be retained by the encroachers,” he said. Illegally allotted Forest land: The CM was told that 34,713.05 acres of forest land were illegally allotted, of which 21,274.56 acres have been canceled. The CM directed the Forest dept to cancel the remaining illegal allotment of 13,438.49 acres and report him. The Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to get the GIS mapping of all the forest and wildlife land right from Khirthar National Park Karachi to the rest of the province. Justice Baqar also directed the Wildlife & Forest Department to carve out the boundary of National Khirthar Park from Karachi to Dadu with barbed wire and make its GIS Mapping. “I would not tolerate encroachment on the lands of National Khirthar Park in Karachi up to Dadu district. If anything happens to this land I would hold the Forest & Wildlife Department accountable,” he said categorically.
Imran 
