Chandigarh, November 5 : Haryana Chief Minister said that awareness should be made to adopt forest conservation methods besides tree plantation. We all should nurture trees as we take care of our family.
Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said this while addressing a programme to plant more trees out of forest area organized at Radhakrishna Auditorium of Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. Trees have always been an important natural resources for human beings. Climate change has been a matter of concern since ancient times. Saints always aware that it is a matter of concern to save water, earth and nature in a sustainable way.
He said that due to the advance development of the world, the balance of nature has been disturbed. Development is essential for human beings. But at the same time maintaining the ecological balance is equally important on the other side. Today the entire world has been facing the effects of climate change due to afforestation on large scale. He said that at the time of Green Revolution, chemical and pesticides were used extensively in Haryana and Punjab to increase the yield of crops. This step has increased the yield but decreased the quality of the crop yield. Similarly, water has also become polluted. Air pollution is increasing day by day, he added.
The Chief Minister said that during the crisis of corona pandemic, everyone get to know about the importance of oxygen. Oxygen plants were intalled to meet the requirement of oxygen in hospitals. All countries have been working and looking forward to maintain ecological balance. In this episode, a programme called planting trees outside the forest area in India has been started from Haryana today. The USAID Foundation is collaborating in this programme. Under the scheme, special focus will be on planting trees outside the forest areas.
He said that Haryana is a small state in the country and has only 3.5 percent forest area. If we talk about trees outside the forest area, then that too is only 3.2 percent. Overall, about 6.7 percent of the forest area can be considered and under this program, a target has been set to develop 20 percent forest area in the state. He said that there is a need to increase awareness in educational institutions regarding the conservation of trees and plants.
The Chief Minister said that every year crores of saplings are planted by the Forest Department in the state. But if their condition is checked after a few months, then only about 5 percent of the plants are able to grow into trees. Therefore, there is a requirement to pay attention towards nurturing trees . We all have to understand that climate change cannot be controlled by being limited to planting more trees. After planting tree, we also should protect it. Only then, human beings would be able to get its complete benefit. In order to promote environmental protection on behalf of the government, the state environmental protection award is also given in the name of Dr. Darshanlal Jain, a well-known environmental conservationist under which an amount of Rs 3 lakh rupees is given.
He said that programmes are being run by the state government to promote plants and protect trees. One such programme was started in the name of Paudhgiri, under which 22 lakh children studying in government schools are planting saplings and the same child is also responsible for its protection for three years. For this, that child gets 50 rupees every year. The Chief Minister said that this programme would be started twice from next year through Education and Forest Department.
In the programme, US Aid Foundation India Mission Director Karen Klimowski appreciated the decisions taken by the Chief Minister regarding environmental protection and said that the steps taken by the Chief Minister Manohar Lal and the Haryana Government regarding climate change are important and appreciable. The state government has set a target to planting trees in about 28 lakh hectares under tree plantation programme outside the forest area in India. This programme is starting from Haryana itself.
In the programme, Additional Chief Secretary of Forest Department, Sh. Vineet Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Sh.Yashpal, Vice Chancellor of the University and other officials of various departments including were also present.