Hry CM focuses on environment, air in Budget; announces ₹1.77L-cr for FY 2022-23

Gurugram: Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday allocated ₹530

Gurugram: Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday allocated ₹530.94 crore for environment, forests and climate change out of the total proposed state budget of ₹1.77 lakh crore.

Gurugram, India - December 23, 2021: A view of the readings on Air Quality Monitors at MG Road in Gurugram, India, on Thursday, December 23, 2021. Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) signs MoU with India Meteorological Department (IMD) for installing weather stations and air quality monitors across the city. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times) ** Story Pics for Suprana/HT Gurugram** (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

While presenting the budget, Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said, “One of the most important challenges confronting all of us is climate change. The government must prepare itself and the people to rise to this challenge, and is taking requisite steps and measures in this direction.”

Khattar also said that “all air pollution hot spots in every district of the state will be converted to ‘green spots’,” and if required, special funding will be provided for mitigation of pollution in the identified hot spots.

As part of the budget, the chief minister proposed the installation of 100 air quality monitoring stations across Haryana. The state currently has 29 air quality Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS), of which 21 are in the national capital region (NCR) districts.

Weather experts welcomed the budget and said that a robust monitoring system will help improve the implementation of policies.

Sachin Panwar, an independent air quality expert, said, “More air quality monitoring systems will help us collect data from different places, which will help the authorities identify localised sources of pollution, and form policies accordingly. Brick kilns, for example, add to air pollution in Haryana, but there is no data to back it up. Moreover, air pollution and climate change impact our health in many ways. This is a welcome step by the government as other weather agencies can work with diversified data.”

Khattar also announced that the Haryana government will introduce a new award in the name of prominent environmentalist, late Darshan Lal Jain, to recognise excellence in efforts towards environmental conservation and promotion. The ‘Darshan Lal Jain Awards’, which will be given to two people, will carry a reward of ₹3 lakh and ₹1 lakh, for the winner and the runner-up.

The chief minister announced a state-wide tree census in 2022-23 as well.

“We count our people once in every decade; we also count our animal wealth once in a while. However, we have no mechanism to count our tree population. I propose a tree census in 2022-23 to count each and every tree in the state and geo-tag it. Based on this census, a comprehensive afforestation plan will be formulated to increase the green cover,” said Khattar.

In the coming year, the state government will also develop 10 hi-tech nurseries, with facilities such as automatic climatic control, greenhouses, polyhouses, root trainer facilities, germination beds, vegetative propagation facilities, and automatic irrigation and fertigation. These facilities will help the government raise quality plants throughout the year, said the chief minister.

The government will also come up with an eco-tourism policy for the 2022-23 fiscal, said Khattar. He also announced the construction of a 150km-long nature trail from Panchkula district’s Kalka to Yamunanagar district’s Kalesar in the Shivalik region.