Chandigarh, January 15: The Punjab Government has so far planted more than 66 lakh saplings in6986 villages to commemorate the 400th parkash purab of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur jiwith the objective of enhancing greenery in the state while the sapling driveis in progress in the remaining villages.
Divulging the details, Punjab Forest Minister Mr. SadhuSingh Dharmsot in press communiqué said here today that the Punjab Governmenthas been working tirelessly for the last four years to enhance green cover inthe state. He said that nowadays the entire world was facing Global warming dueto climate change due to deforestation. He said that under the PunjabGovernment's plan to combat climate change and increase greenery, the forestcover in the state was being increased on a large scale.
Mr. Dharmsot said that 76.25 lakh saplings were planted in12986 villages in connection with the 550th birth anniversary celebrations ofSri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. He further said that the state government had also setup 432 'Nanak Bagichis' across the state to commemorate the 550th birthanniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji. 'With these green cover campaigns GuruSahib's message about the environment could also be turned into a groundreality', said Dharmsot.
The Forest Minister said that the state government haslaunched a comprehensive campaign this year on the occasion of the birthanniversary of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur ji.Under this campaign so far 66 lakh saplings have been planted in 6986 villagesof the state and work in remaining villages is under progress.
Mr. Dharmsot said that 2.45 crore saplings have been plantedby the state government during the last four years under various schemes/campaigns. He also said that the government was not limited to plantingsaplings but was also working tirelessly to ensure the maintenance of theplanted saplings. He said that in the campaign of planting 550 saplings inevery village of the state new saplings have been planted in place of theold/dead saplings.
The Forest Minister said that during the 550 year campaign,the Forest Department in collaboration with MGNREGA workers and Panchayatscompleted the planting of saplings which were being taken care of by 'VanMitras' hired by the Panchayat Department.