Plantation drive: Interns to help Faisalabad PHA

He was addressing a ceremony at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in which the Institute of Horticulture Sciences and the Parks and Horticulture Authority signed an MoU to work for the beautification of the city. Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan and District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal were also present at the occasion.

The PHA would enlist the help of student interns in decorating the city. The minister said equipping students with knowledge and practical work could help the country make rapid progress. He said the government was making all out efforts to provide students with facilities and platforms to exhibit their skills. As a result of the agreement, the PHA will also be able to enlist the help of several experts in horticulture, he said. The chief minister’s internship programme would help address the problem of unemployment, he said.

The vice chancellor said the university was committed to providing state-of-the-art community services. He said the project would help transform theoretical knowledge into service. A modern expo centre, the first of its kind in the division, was being set up at the UAF, said Khan. It would provide agri-scientists and industrialists a platform to exhibit their products. He lauded the government’s steps to revamp animals’ markets.

District Coordination Officer Mengal said Faisalabad had huge potential…more than a hundred locations in the city had been identified for landscaping, tree and flower plantation.

He said the government was also mapping out a comprehensive strategy to make Faisalabad green along the pattern of Lahore. He said the PHA would also induct experts from the UAF.

The MoU was signed by University of Agriculture Associate Professor Dr Atif Riaz and Parks and Horticultural Authority Managing Director Ashiq Hussain Dogar.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2014.