PHA’s purview extended to district level
”
LAHORE:
The Punjab government is going to establish Parks and Horticulture Authorities (PHA) at the district level to create a “Green Punjab.” These authorities will focus on eradicating smog pollution, renovating old parks and constructing new ones, with a funding of billions of rupees. The PHAs will operate directly under the Punjab government, bypassing the Forest Department and district administrations.
At present, PHAs function in ten divisional headquarters all over Punjab, including Lahore, Sahiwal, Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Gujrat. Their primary task is to maintain parks and build green belts to improve the environment and eliminate smog.
According to the available records, there are three to four large and 40 to 70 small parks in other major cities of Punjab, which were first supervised by the Forest Department and now will be under the jurisdiction of the PHA. Furthermore, there are about 900 parks and more than 2,000 green belts and parking areas in Lahore alone.
Rana Muhammad Altaf, Retired Director of the Forest Department stated that the government continues to experiment with new initiatives specifically to embezzle funds. “The Forest Department was trying to improve the condition of all parks in the province by appropriate means. Every year millions of trees are planted in parks, green belts and other places to make the environment conducive. But 25 years ago, these responsibilities were gradually taken away from our department, and the PHA was formed. First, the authority was exclusive to Lahore, but in the last five to six years, these authorities have been formed in other divisional headquarters of Punjab. The annual budget of an authority is between Rs3 to Rs4 billion,” claimed Altaf.
According to information obtained by the , the Punjab government has decided to expand PHAs from major cities to the whole province, with each district exercising its own authority. As a result, the control of parks and green belts currently under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department will be transferred to these micro authorities. In aggregate, these authorities are planned to be formed in 29 cities of Punjab, which will have a separate burden on the government exchequer.
Syed Shoaibud Din, an environmental expert, remarked that merely establishing authorities will not yield results unless practical actions are taken. “The Forest Department has the expertise to identify the right locations and types of plants to reduce pollution. They are also skilled in creating artificial forests. But instead of utilizing their expertise, the government is engaging in experiments aimed at appointing political figures as Vice Chairmen,” he lamented.
Shoaibud Din further targeted the Lahore Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), claiming that its primary focus had shifted to maintaining the official and semi-official residences and farmhouses of government officers. “Plants from PHA’s nurseries are mainly sent to bureaucrat’s homes, while public nurseries often lack affordable plants. The PHA has merely become an institution dedicated to maintaining government properties with public resources,” he added.
According to the information received, the Punjab government wants to centralize the budget regarding Green Punjab. There will be a Director General (DG) of the Parks and Horticulture Authority at the provincial level, who will supervise each district level authority, which will be operated by a Grade 19 Director level officer. The nomination of a Vice-Chairman will be given to the political representative at each district level.
A spokesperson for the Punjab government confirmed that a principled decision has been made to establish PHAs in every district of the province. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has issued directives to the administration to focus on urban beautification.
”
