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Extra marks to students who plant more saplings: Haryana CM
Manohar Lal Khattar was inaugurating a panchkarma wellness centre located at the nature camp in Morni hills
Laying emphasis on the concept of “oxy van”, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced a new policy wherein extra marks would be given to students of Classes 8 to 12 who plant and nurture saplings.
The CM was inaugurating the Panchkarma Wellness Centre located at Nature Camp, Thapli, and Nature Trails in Morni Hills. The CM also digitally laid the foundation stone of Nakshatra Vatika, Navgrah Vatika and Rashi Van, collectively known as Antriksh Van.
These green areas will be developed in the government forest near Masjidwala village in Panchkula—Nakshatra Vatika will be developed on 10 acres, Sugandh and Rashi Van will be raised on five acres each.
The CM also announced a pension of ₹2,500 per year for the preservers of trees that were aged above 75 years as part of the “oxy van” initiative.
Khattar said the state already had 23 panchkarma centres, 500 yoga shalas and vyayam shalas. He added that the state had set a target of planting 3 crore saplings in the near future.
A small trek from Thapli Nature Camp to Thapli village was inaugurated on Sunday.
Under purview of the forest department, 11 nature trails in Morni Hills are being developed. Two youths from the villages are being trained as nature guides and are being taught about the flora and fauna of Morni, etiquettes of nature tourism, how to conduct nature tours, dealing with injuries, walking techniques, first aid etc.
The CM also took part in adventure sports activities. He reviewed paragliding, hot-air balloon, parasailing, power motor, e-hydrofoil, jet scooter, boating and also rode the jet scooter.
Union minister of state for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria, Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Gian Chand Gupta, Haryana tourism minister Kanwar Pal, minister of state for sports Sandeep Singh, and Panchkula mayor Kulbhushan Goyal were also present on the occasion.
Khattar said a club, named after Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, would be formed where youth from the neighbouring areas will be given training for paragliding and similar activities.
He said Morni would prove to be a suitable place for paragliding and the use of hot-air balloons would be started in Pinjore. Besides, Kalka to Kalesar was being developed as a tourist route.
Khattar said ₹49 crore had been received from the Centre for the development of Nada Sahib and Mansa Devi pilgrimage sites. Another ₹52 crore had been received for Adi Badri, he said, adding that Morni was also connected by this route.
Police detained around 50 farmers who gathered at the site of inauguration of the wellness centre to protest against the CM before his arrival.
They were released after five hours. A senior police official said that the farmers were marching towards the CM’s helipad, so they had to detain them.
