CHITRAL: Chairman of Chitral Community Development Network (CDN) and former tehsil nazim of Chitral Sartaj Ahmed Khan on Monday called upon the chief justice of Pakistan and other authorities concerned to take urgent notice of the fast melting glaciers in Chitral and order steps to mitigate its impact on the local people.
Speaking at a press conference, he said imposing a ban on the cutting of forest for use as firewood was urgently needed to stop deforestation that was leading to flooding. He said cutting of trees for the purpose of firewood could be stopped by providing subsidized electricity to the people of Chitral from the Golen Gol powerhouse.
Referring to available figures, Mr Ahmed said over 26,000 tons of firewood was sold in the market of Chitral every year while an equal quantity of wood was burnt by the locals without that coming to the market.
He said that a few years ago he had launched a \”Save Chitral, Save Pakistan\” campaign with the objective of bringing under the notice of concerned higher authorities the impending danger deforestation and melting of glaciers were posing for the people of the whole country.
He said if timely action was not taken, the consequences of the climate change impact in Chitral would be disastrous for the nation.
Chitral Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Atalegh Haider Ali Shah, naib district nazim Abdul Shakoor and civil society representatives Rehmat Ghafoor Baig, Abdul Nasir Khan, Hayatur Rehman, Inayatullah Aseer, Farooq Ahmed and Isa Ali accompanied Mr Sartaj Ahmed Khan.