SHC moved against tree hacking in Karachi

KARACHI - A petition was filed before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday against the felling of hundreds of fully grown trees in Karachi by authorities to make way for Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. The petition was filed by advocates Shahnawaz and Mohin Abbas in SHC. Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab, the Sindh government and others have been made respondents in the plea.

The petition stated that hundreds of old trees were cut down in the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Malir (CBM) to make way for the Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project and overall 50,000 trees would be cut on the route of BRT project. “The Sindh government recently started construction work on Karachi’s Red Line BRT project and in the first phase, the route from Tank Chowk near Malir Halt to Safoora Chowrangi will be completed. The transport authorities recently cut down trees in the jurisdiction of CBM for BRT project and also plan to cut around 50,000 trees for the 26-km project ending at Numaish Chowrangi,” it added.

The applicants have urged the province’s top court to stop the provincial government from cutting more trees as the step will further increase temperature in the city facing climate challenges.

Recently, TransKarachi, a public sector company established and owned by the Government of Sindh to carry out the project implementation of the Karachi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line, has initiated a tree plantation drive across Karachi.