Mumtaz Ahmed Bhatti
10 Billion Trees Tsunami Program (TBTTP ) was a very important project of the federal government under the Ministry of Climate Change, in which 50 percent of the funds were to be provided by the federal government and 50 percent by the provinces, while 100 percent of the funds were to be provided to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan by the federal government .TBTTP is a revolutionary step for the development of the forestry sector in Pakistan but unfortunately the project has failed to provide continuous funding from the beginning and its effects are proving to be very fatal for the forest guards and foresters working in the field. Field employees are suffering from mental, economic and physical suffering. Federal government is not providing its share of funds for more than six months and Provincial government also not providing its share of funds this has become a problem for the project field workers because of non-disbursement of budget after planting. The work cannot be stopped as small plants require constant watering and care. Plantation may fail if plant maintenance and water are stopped. Governments believe that usually due to lack of funds in the development project, construction of a road, building or bridge can be stopped and it can be restarted from there and there is no damage, but this is not the case in plantations, plants need constant water and care, for which uninterrupted supply of funds is indispensable. Even if the supply of funds stops, field workers have to water and care for the plants as much as possible by taking loans and selling their wife’s jewellery. These expenses of lakhs of rupees put a heavy burden on these poor employees and it is not possible for every field employee to do so.Many employees had to lose their motorcycles for project plantation expenses. Where arrangements could not be made for large amounts of money, the plantations were severely affected and all the responsibility was placed on the field workers. Since the beginning of the project, there has been a delay of several months in the provision of funds. Lack of uninterrupted supply of funds has become a never ending problem for the field workers. All the problems in TBTTP are arising from the non-supply of funds, but the higher authorities are putting the entire responsibility of the failure of the plantation on the field employees and are also recovering crores. If the provision of funds by the government continued on time and as per the requirement, then the responsibility of the failure should have been put on the field staff, otherwise action against the field staff is a very cruel action. Before the launch of the project, it was promised to provide motorcycles, petrol and T-A/D-A regularly for the field employees, but so far this has not been done at all. It is not possible for the field employees to work in the field without a ride, so now the field employees are using their personal rides and Purchasing fuel from their own pockets. It was the responsibility of the TBTTP which has become a continuous and additional economic burden for the field workers. For the success of TBTTP, the plight of the field workers is being completely ignored and changes in the Forest Act and Forest Manual to bring them in line with the modern requirements were very important but this has not been done which is a clear injustice to the field workers. . The number of field staff is very less than required and there is a severe lack of facilities. In these conditions, the protection of plantations spread over a wide area has also become a difficult problem. It is very difficult to stop the animals from grazing the plantation and the field workers do not have any solution for this. The police refrain from taking action against the culprits who cause damage to the plantation, as a result of which the culprits become more fearless and let the animals loose in the plantation, which further increases the damage to the plantation. The prosecution system of the forest department has completely failed, that’s why the damage reports are not sent to the courts and the forest governance has completely collapsed. Punjab Foresters and Forest Guards Welfare Association has been engaged in efforts for the betterment of forest department and forest employees.In this regard, the Punjab Foresters and Forest Guards Welfare Association has strongly demanded from the federal and provincial governments that regular funding should be arranged for TBTTP otherwise the project should be closed. Rashid Bashir Chatta, Provincial President of Punjab Foresters and Forest Guards Welfare Association, while talking to the media, has demanded many times that the field employees should be provided with riding, traveling allowance and most importantly, against the accused who damage the forest. Actions should be initiated under the Forest Act and the higher authorities should be initiated under the Forest Act and the higher authorities should oblige the police to cooperate with the forest employees in the action against the accused. All necessary reforms should be done immediately. All the demands of Rashid Bashir Chatta Provincial President Punjab Foresters and Forest Guards Welfare Association are legitimate and their immediate resolution will be better for TBTTP.