MULTAN – Social media users are expressing their outrage after a video showing a number of trees in mango orchards being uprooted went viral on social media at a time when the government is held by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a party that has launched multi projects for enhancing green cover in the country to cope with climate change.
The clip, shared by Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Farooq Leghari and re-tweeted by former PML-N minister Ahsan Iqbal, shows some men cutting the stems and branches of the mango trees that require five to eight years before they bear fruit, at the orchards reportedly in Multan.
https://twitter.com/FleghariDGK/status/1373647823955181568
Reports suggest thousands trees have so far been cut while the destruction of the orchards continues.
A former economics teacher also came up with a shocking calculation:
Satellite imagery obtained from Google Earth shows that roughly 6000 acres of mango orchards were cleared between September 2013 and March 2020 to accommodate #DHAMultan.
That is, about 500,000 trees were chopped! pic.twitter.com/4FPOlAXZg1
— Ali Aqa Gardezi (@SyedAliAqa) March 22, 2021
Politicians and activist have condemned the operation with Twitter users urging the authorities to halt the destruction of the orchards. Why are the thousands of fruit trees being cut in Multan? they have questioned.
Can someone shed light on reports doing rounds on social media that mango orchards have been felled in Multan for a public sector housing society?Claims that a hundred thousand mango trees already felled. Hard to believe without some solid evidence.
— Farhatullah Babar (@FarhatullahB) March 21, 2021
It also being claimed that the land is being cleared for construction of DHA housing society but the officials are yet to issue a statement.
Expressing anger, some users say the uprooting the trees will not only affect the mango export to the foreign countries, a business activity that brings forex to Pakistan, but also deprive owners of their source of income.
