DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Speaking in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today on the resolution to preserve the environment and increase the area under forests, Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the protection of the environment is a collective responsibility of all and the participation of the people has to be ensured for the success of this campaign. Therefore, it is most important to make people aware.

While advocating increase in the area under forests, he said that more and more trees should be planted on panchayat lands of villages and the individual residences.

Meet Hayer said that under the leadership of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann, continuous efforts are being made by the State Government to protect the environment. Installation of solar panels in government educational institutions, a complete ban on single-use plastics and curbing industrial pollution are some of the measures. Many other projects have been started including Plantation which has been prioritised.

The government has undertaken ex situ and in situ, works on stubble management which have resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in stubble burning cases and efforts are being made to further minimize this percentage.

The minister said that the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker invited and honoured the farmers who had not burnt stubble for the past several years and thus inspired other farmers. The local residents must give a boost to the industries being set up for stubble management in Punjab.

Meet Hayer further said the problem of pollution started in the last two centuries and increased with industrial progress. Air pollution is a global health crisis that causes the death of around 7 million people worldwide.

He said that blue sky was seen during the lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. The range of Dhauldhar and Shivalik hills was clearly visible from Punjab, from which it is clear that this problem is of our own making. He said that the United Nations has started celebrating Blue Sky Day on September 7.
(editor@dailyworld.in)