Gurugram: Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of Gurugram, was appointed on Tuesday Out of the total proposed state budget, 530.94 million will be spent on environment, forests and climate. 1.77 lakh crore
Khattar, who also has the finance portfolio, stated that climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. The government must prepare the people and itself to face this challenge. They are taking the necessary steps to achieve this goal.
Khattar stated that all hot spots for air pollution in the state will be converted into green spots and, if necessary, special funding will also be provided to mitigate the pollution in these hot spots.
In Haryana, the chief minister proposed to install 100 air quality monitoring stations as part of the budget. The state currently has 29 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in its air quality control system. 21 of these are located in the NCR district.
Weather experts welcomed the budget. They said that a robust monitoring system would help improve the implementation and effectiveness of policies.
Sachin Panwar, an independent expert in air quality, stated, “More air quality monitoring system will help us collect data at different places, which will allow the authorities to identify localised sources and form policies accordingly.” Haryana’s air pollution is exacerbated by brick kilns. However, there is no data. Climate change and air pollution have many negative effects on our health. This is a welcome move by the government, as other weather agencies can use diversified data.
Khattar also announced the Haryana government will create a new award in honor of late Darshan Lal jain, an environmentalist who was a prominent figure in environmental conservation and promotion. Two people will receive the Darshan Lal Jain Awards. 3 lakh 1 lakh each for the winner, and the runner up.
The chief minister also announced that a tree census would be conducted in every state by 2022-23.
We count our people once a decade. Once in a while we also count our animal riches. We don’t have a way to count the tree population. I propose to conduct a tree census in 2022/23 to count every tree in the state, and geo-tag each one. Khattar stated that a comprehensive plan for afforestation will be developed based on this census to increase green cover.
In the next year, the state government plans to build 10 high-tech nurseries. These nurseries will have facilities such as automatic climate control, greenhouses, polyhouses and root trainer facilities. The chief minister stated that these facilities will allow the government to grow high-quality plants all year.
Khattar said that the government will also develop an ecotourism policy for the fiscal 2022-23. Khattar also announced that a 150km long nature trail would be built from Panchkula district Kalka to Yamunanagar District Kalesar, in the Shivalik region.