Celebration of World Environment Day
Chandigarh, 5th June, 2017: A function was organized at Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh on the occasion of ‘World Environment Day’ by Municipal Corporation Chandigarh in collaboration with Department of Environment & Forests and Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, UT Chandigarh wherein HE, Sh. V.P.Singh Badnore, the Governor of Punjab & the Administrator, UT Chandigarh was the Chief Guest. On this occasion, “Greening Chandigarh Action Plan 2017-18” was released by the Chief Guest. He also launched Public Display of Air Quality Index at 5 places in Chandigarh for its residents and distributed the Dust bins to the general public for segregation of dry and wet wastes
Annual Greening Chandigarh Action Plan is a guiding tool for all greening agencies of Chandigarh Administration to strategies effectively to fulfill their commitment of making City Beautiful more clean & green. He further told that against the target of 2,20,000 saplings in 2016-17, altogether 2,54,726 saplings were planted and this year 2017-18 , a target of 2,35,000 saplings have been fixed.
In the afternoon, a function was also organized at entrance point on the ground floor of Elante Mall in Industrial Area, Chandigarh on the occasion of ‘World Environment Day wherein Shri. Anurag Agarwal, IAS, Home Secretary-cum-Secretary (Environment & Forests), UT Chandigarh was the Chief Guest. This was organized by Department of Environment & Forests in collaboration with YUVSATTA –an environmental NGO, State Bank of India, Chandigarh and STEPS.
On this occasion, the ‘Best Eco-Club Award of UT Chandigarh’ were announced by Department of Environment, Chandigarh Administration for 2016, and the prizes for their commendable work in the field of Environment Conservation were distributed by the Chief Guest. The Prize winners were as follows :-
Position
Name of the School
Name of Eco-Club
Name of Principal
Name of Teacher Incharge
1st
St. Joseph’s Sr. Sec. School, Sec.44-D, Chd
Green Saviours Eco-Club
Mrs.Monica Chawla
Mrs. Dimple Bansal
2nd
Govt. Model Sr. Sec. School, Sec. 33-D, Chd
Vasumati Eco-Club
Mrs.Indira Beniwal
Mrs.Anju Mahajan
3rd
Carmel Convent School, Sector 9-B, Chd
Go Green Eco-club
Sr. Supreeta
Mrs.Ritu Yadav
The Chief Guest congratulated ‘Best Eco Club Awardees’. He exhorted that we all should strive for making this city as Carbon neutral city on view of Global warming.
Addressing the gathering Chief Guest Sh. Anurag Agarwal, IAS gave a new slogan of ‘My Chandigarh-Blue & Green Chandigarh’, emphasizing on promotion of Solar Power (Blue look) and increasing the green cover of the city with well maintained green belts and forest areas.
Sh. Anil Malhotra CEO Elante Mall addressing the gathering said “We, at Elante, are always taking innovative initiatives to promote cleanliness and enhance customer experiences today we are proud to be a part of the World Environment Day celebrations aimed at drawing attention to pressing problems like environmental pollution, greenhouse effect and the adverse effects of climate change. In keeping with this year’s theme of ‘My Chandigarh-Blue and Green Chandigarh’, I appeal to all people of the city to take a pledge to keep the city clean and green, plant more and more trees and adopt solar energy.I thank all the delegates, Sh. Anurag Agarwal, IAS, Secretary, Home, Environment and Forests, Chandigarh Administration, Sh. Santosh Kumar, IFS, Director, Department of Environment and Chief Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh Administration, and NGO Yuvsatta for making this environmental awareness programme a grand success.”
On this occasion, Chief Guest also distributed Herbal Plants to students to promote green Chandigarh and also distributed 500 nos. LED Bulbs of 9 Watt to the people present there to promote energy efficiency. A Stall was erected where Film on Solar was displayed. Quiz sessions were held on the matters relating to Environment, Forests & Renewable Energy.
Earlier in the morning, to start the series of programmes for celebration of World Environment Day, 2017, Department of Environment & Forests, UT Chandigarh in collaboration with NGO – Youth Innovative Society, Chandigarh organized a “Bicycle Rally on Save Environment & Forest” in Reserved Forest area behind Sukhna Lake started at Smriti Van which was flagged off by Shri Santosh Kumar, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests & Director Environment, UT Chandigarh at 0800 hrs. Around 200 participants of NSS units of UT Chandigarh and Schools participated in this event. The aim of this Bicycle Rally was to spread the message of ‘Connecting People to Nature’ among various stakeholders of the society and to promote cycling in the City.
Among prominent persons attending the function were Sh. Santosh Kumar, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forest & Director Environment, Sh. Birendra Choudhary, IFS, DCF(WL) and Sh. P.J.S. Dadhwal, Additional Director ( Env) and other senior officers of the Administration, Sh. Pramod Sharma, Coordinator of Yuvsatta, NGO and officials of State Bank of India who was the co-sponsorer. The function was attended by various Eco Club Incharges, School Principals & Teachers of Schools of Chandigarh.
CITCO – Chandigarh Industrial and Development Corporation Ltd , also celebrated the World Environment Day being an environmentally and socially responsible organization also carried out several activities on World Environment Day under the guidance of its Managing director Smt. Kavita Singh IAS. The idea was to sensitize its employees to nurture and care for the environment.
Several fruit trees and medicinal plants such as lemon grass, akarkara, vach, ashwagandha, kalmegh, kalavasa, were planted in the front lawns of Hotel Mountview. These organically grown herbs and fruits will be used in the restaurants of CITCO.
The employees were shown a film ‘The story of Stuff’ to educate them about the harmful effects of consumerism, and encourage them to recycle and use the Earth’s resources conscientiously.
A talk was delivered by organic farmer Sh. Raman Tiwana, who explained to the audience the need to grow clean food in order to feed our children and to save them from poisonous food that has invaded our system.
The system of garbage segregation and disposal introduced by MCC was explained to the employees and they were requested to follow the guidelines specified. Sh. Gurpreet Dabriwala from KVM (Kheti Virasat Mission) conducted a workshop which engaged the employees and other audience present and motivated them to start growing their food to the extent possible, and sourcing the rest from organic farmers.. He demonstrated how to grow vegetables in containers and make garbage enzyme. Made with vegetable peels, jiggery and water over a period of three months, this can be stored for thirty years and used as a disinfectant, cleaner, and also used to make plants healthy and avoid chemicals.
Smt. Navjot Kaur PCS, CGM CITCO administered a pledge to the employees stating that they would act as responsible citizens of the earth, respect natural resources, try to conserve water and power, try to use carpool, public transport, and cycles, recycle, reuse, use less plastic and try to grow their own food.
On the World Environment Day “A Tree plantation Drive” was conducted at Civil Hospital, Sector-45 & Civil Hospital Sector-22, under the supervision of S.D.M (C & S)-cum-Chairperson, Rogi Kalyan Samiti, U.T., Chandigarh along-with staff of CH 45 & CH-22 and the Members of RKS like Sh. Kanwarjeet Rana, Councillor, Burail, in Civil Hospital Sector-45. The plantation was carried out by five young girls who enthusiastically took the responsibility to look after these plants. Every year this day is celebrated around to create awareness regarding growing environmental concerns such as global warming and pollution. The theme for this year was “Connecting People to Nature”.
The S.D.M (C &S) through this imitative intended to instill a sense of responsibility in the community and staff at Civil Hospital Sector- 45 & Civil Hospital Sectro-22 towards protecting the environment. She also discussed various ways in which each and every one of us can contribute towards improving and reconnecting to our nature.
