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World Environment Day: Yogi Adityanath stresses on people’s support to check pollution
Village heads, civic chiefs take online pledge to beat plastic pollution and support reforestation on the occasion of World Environment Day
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday laid stress on people’s support to mitigate the side-effects of pollution. Administering an online pledge to 58,000 village heads, he urged them to plant saplings in each village during the week- long Van Mahotsav that will begin in the first week of July.
He was addressing a conference on ‘Race for Life: Circular Economy and Local Climate Action’ organised by the department of forest, environment and climate change on the occasion of the World Environment Day in Gorakhpur.
Village heads, newly elected chairpersons of municipality and town areas along with officials of Gorakhpur municipal corporation and panchayati raj institution took the oath to beat plastic pollution and support reforestation.
The chief minister mentioned that pollution generated by plastic is harmful to the environment.
This year, the theme of World Environment Day is Solution for Plastic Pollution, he said.
“It was banned in the state in 2018 itself. Single-use plastic consumption is equivalent to sin as a cow might die after consuming it. Being an indestructible thing, plastic also affects the health of mother earth,” he said.
He also gave the mantra of the Six Rs-- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Refabricate, and Repair-- to protect the environment from plastic.
He said that the state government had decided to plant 35 crore saplings.
“At least one thousand saplings should be planted in all the gram panchayats of the state. If all gram panchayats and municipal bodies adopt this target, then they will only plant six crore saplings,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath said the celebration of World Environment Day on June 5 bears testimony to the global concern over the environmental crisis, which has increased significantly over the years.
“Earth, water, air, trees, and plants work together to form the environment. We have all also been created around the five elements. Although there is a connection between our life cycle and that of the rest of creation, we pollute the water, air, and other natural resources. We have to bear the brunt of this in the form of various diseases. The cost of treating these diseases consumes a significant portion of people’s incomes,” he added.
He further stated that the consequences of tampering with the environment are visible in the form of untimely floods of September-October in some parts of the state or smog in November-December in Delhi.
He emphasised that the government is promoting environment-friendly energy by reducing carbon emissions.
“For this, LED lights are being arranged not only in the cities but also in the villages. LED is becoming a means of reducing carbon emissions. Similarly, solar power is also being promoted,” he said.
Citing the Namami Gange project, he said Ganga water has become clean and uninterrupted in Prayagraj and Kashi.
The chief minister stated that Amrit Sarovars are being constructed in every village as part of the Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav under the direction of Prime Minister Modi for the purpose of water conservation.
During the programme, he released booklets, folders and animation films of the forest department focused on environmental protection.
Meanwhile, chief minister Yogi Adityanath offered special prayers and performed Rudrabhishek at Gorakhnath temple on Monday, marking his 51st birthday.
He also planted saplings of banyan and peepal that are considered auspicious. Minister of state for social forestry and environment Arun Kumar Saxena and forest controller Vikas Yadav were also present on this occasion.
Earlier, during Yogi Adityanath’s morning walk on the temple premises, two dozen taekwondo players approached him, offered flowers and extended birthday greetings. The chief minister blessed them and, in a five-minute interaction, urged them to focus on health and education.
A young artist made a 51-foot-high portrait of Yogi Adityanath with the help of a rubber stamp and placed it at the Gambhir Nath auditorium gate.
Seeing the portrait, the chief minister stopped there for a moment and appreciated the hard work.
Leaders and officials also extended birthday greetings to the chief minister and many took to social media to wish him good health and a long life.
Uttar Pradesh had scripted a saga of success under Yogi Adityanath’s leadership, chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said.
