Why govt planting saplings on community land

Tereek Huqooq-e-Awam leader Mukhtar Lal and social activist Shuja Uddin said Qaqlasht is a community land belonging to the people of Booni, Mulkhow and other nearby areas.

This barren land is used by the local communities for razing and shelter purposes in times of natural calamities such as floods. They said a few years ago, the KP government planned to launch a housing scheme at Qaqlasht without taking the local communities into confidence. As the locals opposed the housing scheme, the PTI-led government had to shelve the project, they said.

Now, they added, the deputy commissioner and officials of the forest department arrived in Qaqlasht on Thursday to inaugurate a tree plantation campaign under the afforestation programme. They said children from different public and private sector schools of Booni were taken to Qaqlasht in three coasters to take part in the plantation. 

They said the government had no right to use the community land for any project without the consent of the locals. They demanded tat the government should clarify its position on the ownership of the saplings planned on the community land.