Check on use of fertilizer, plastic bags urged

KABUL): President Hamid Karzai on Saturday renewed his call on the people to use fabric bags instead of plastic ones and keep planting trees to check increasing environmental pollution  and subsequent diseases.

Speaking at an event marking World Day in Kabul, Karzai said special attention be paid to preserving forests, judicious use of water, chemical fertilisers and plastic bags.

Population growth, increasing numbers of vehicles, modernised buildings, shrinking greenery, overuse of chemical fertiliser, cement, plastic bags and uncontrolled tube wells contributed to environmental degradation, he added.

“Villages are more beautiful than cities, when it comes to the environment. It is the responsibility of the government to improve the lives of people in villages and obviate the need for people migrating to cities,” the president suggested.

Karzai said the old housing system had been better than the contemporary one because that was attractive and resistant to heat and cold. “So the old housing system should be paid attention.”

The level of groundwater has been depleting due to uncontrolled tube wells, he said, instructing the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock to prevent the overuse of chemical fertilisers.

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