About six years ago, I wrote a letter ‘Planting palm trees’ (Feb 6, 2017) about the folly of planting such trees in Islamabad. It seems the people running the horticulture department of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) are adamant that they will repeat the experiment over and over again in the hope that someday a miracle will happen and that the full-grown replanted palm trees will survive the inhabitable environment of Islamabad.
This year, too, about hundreds of full-grown palm trees have been planted around the newly-constructed faulty PWD interchange, while the electricity poles planted a year ago for illuminating the relevant portion of the expressway are still not functional.
It pains me to see these expensive and majestic trees dying due to lack of care and an unfriendly climate. In fact, these full-grown palm trees are now nothing but an ugly and hideous sight.
It is not that one is against these trees. It is just that the trees require care and special attention to grow in the specific weather conditions in this part of the country. In the old sectors of Islamabad, like F-6 to F-9, the then city planners had planted pine trees, giving Islamabad a beautiful green look. The current planners, it seems, are unnecessarily keen on changing the topography of the once beautiful city.
I have no idea what is the compulsion of replanting full-grown palm trees instead of patronising and sticking to our own indigenous trees, like the evergreen pine. If the purpose is forestation of Islamabad overnight, the authorities are sadly mistaken. They will not be able to do this by planting palm trees.
Perhaps people sitting in Islamabad want to be identified as Middle Eastern or showing affinity to a tropical region, instead of taking pride in the fact that for all practical purposes, we are south Asian and have to adapt to the environment, lifestyle and customs prevalent here.
Even if there is some reason to insist on having palm trees, why not plant young saplings instead of replanting full-grown trees? The only reason that comes to mind is that the young saplings need extra care and constant attention over a long period of time, and we want the ‘looks’ rather immediately. Or, maybe someone is taking the city fathers for a ride — with their consent, possibly.
KHALED
ISLAMABAD
