Chandigarh, Aug 31 (UNI) Haryana Forest Minister Kanwar Pal has appealed to the people to take a pledge to plant at least two saplings during the monsoon season and also ensure to maintain them for three to four years to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Green India.
Speaking at an event organised at Van Bhawan in Panchkula on Monday, he said the Van Mahotsav is organised every year during the monsoon season, and the department has set a target of planting 2.5 crore trees this year. “We can achieve this goal only when we pledge to plant trees,” he said.
He said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had started a scheme three years ago to motivate the school children for planting trees, and the children had set a record by planting more than 30 lakh saplings against the set target of 25 lakh saplings. This year whenever children plant trees, they can upload their pictures on the department’s website and can get an honorarium for a period of three years, he added.
The Minister said forests are being adversely affected due to climate change and global warming. “Along with increasing the forest area, we also need to conserve the forest animals, only then we can maintain the balance in nature,” he said.
He said that although the forest area in Haryana is very less, except Panchkula, Shivalik forest area of Yamunanagar and Aravali forest area of South Haryana, forest area in the rest of Haryana can only be increased by massive plantation drives. For this, if required saplings can be planted on river banks, alongside streams, roads or Panchayati land and village ponds.
He said the Har Ghar Hariyali Yojana had proved to be very effective and people have contributed extensively by planting a large number of trees under the Selfie with Tree campaign. Due to this, the state had managed to increase the area under forests and now the target is to increase this up to 20 per cent.
Mr Kanwar Pal also appealed to the people to plant a sapling on special occasions, such as on their own or on any family member’s birthdays, anniversary or any other social event. He said increasing pollution is a matter of concern and the only way to deal with this problem is to plant more and more trees.
