Cleanliness drive launched in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills National Park following UK High Commissioner’s tweet

Islamabad: The Islamabad Wildlife Administration Board (IWMB) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have sprung into motion and launched a cleanliness drive to take away trash from the Margalla Hills, strolling tracks and mountain climbing trails of the Margalla Hills Nationwide Park (MNHP).

This all occurred after Excessive Commissioner of the UK (UK) Dr Christian Turner posted an image on social media through which he might be seen carrying two baggage stuffed with litter, empty canes and waste materials, faraway from the Margalla Hills Nationwide Park.

In his tweet, Christian Turner mentioned it was “one other Friday morning stroll and one other two baggage of litter.” He had additionally quoted well-known Islamic saying: Cleanliness is half of religion.

After the British envoy’s tweet, not solely Islamabad’s civic and administrative organizations and departments began a mega transfer to take away the litter from numerous websites, folks notably the well-known celebrities appreciated the UK mission’s head for drawing the general public in addition to the federal government’s consideration in the direction of this essential challenge.

Former cricket nice and ex-captain of Pakistan squad, Wasim Akram, responded to his tweet saying, “Now that is actually embarrassing. The place are we heading? And thanks Mr Turner for doing this nearly each week.”

Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Hamza Shafqaat has additionally spearheaded a drive to take away trash from the scenic Margalla Hills and on this marketing campaign he’s assisted by civil society and totally different volunteer teams.

“We’ll make the most of this lockdown interval within the days of Covid-19 for this function and can set up groups to scrub up our hills and the countryside,” mentioned he whereas speaking to Gulf Information on Sunday.

To a query whether or not the drive was impressed by the UK excessive commissioner’s tweet, he mentioned the ICT had deliberate it earlier than that. “We hold doing this on and off and it isn’t the primary time that we’re doing this sort of cleanliness drive,” mentioned Hamza.

He additionally shared some footage of the ‘cleaned’ up tracks and trails because of the cleanliness drive.

The IWMB has additionally initiated a cleanup marketing campaign in Margalla Hills Nationwide Park to raise waste dumped by guests and vacationers within the pure surroundings.

The marketing campaign will proceed in the course of the lockdown, mentioned Supervisor Operation of the IWMB, Sakhawat Ali.

We won’t solely clear all the primary trails, six trails, however will even go for the untrodden paths and take away trash from there as nicely throughout this nine-day marketing campaign, he mentioned.

The IMWB has began registering volunteers to expedite stakeholder intervention to handle the littering challenge and 400 volunteers have been registered for the “My waste my duty” drive, he additional mentioned.