On World Environment Day, Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said that 3 crore trees will be planted in a year in Haryana and plantation would be done on 10 percent of the 8 lakh acres of panchayat land, which will be named as Oxy Forest. Not only this, all the trees planted in a year will also be named Oxy Forests.
He said that for maintenance of trees above 75 years, a pension amount of Rs 2500 would be given per year in the name of Pran Vayu Devta and this pension would also increase every year similar to the old age samman pension.
To promote the process of getting natural oxygen from trees, plantations will be done in the name of Panchavati in every village of Haryana. Besides this, agro forestry will also be promoted on vacant land so that Panchayat income in rural areas can also increase.
The Chief Minister also launched Oxy Forest on Forest Department land in Mughal Canal near Sector 4, Karnal. Forest and Education Minister, Kanwar Pal, MP Sanjay Bhatia, MLA Gharaunda, Harvinder Kalyan and Additional Chief Secretary, Forest Department, G. Anupama also accompanied the Chief Minister and planted Panchavati saplings. In this Panchavati, trees of Bel, Banyan, Amla, Peepal and Ashoka were planted.
Besides this, the Chief Minister also inaugurated and laid foundation stones of three other projects at the same programme, these include laying foundation stone of Nagar Van Panchkula, starting Panchavati plantation at 134 places of Kurukshetra pilgrimage and Pran Vayu Devta Pension Scheme.
Khattar said that the Mera Pani-Meri Virasat scheme was started by the state government to save water for future generations. He said that for this, it was decided that an incentive amount of Rs.7000 per acre would be given to the farmers adopting crop diversification in place of paddy and now the government has decided that any farmer who opts for agro forestry and plants 400 trees on his land, then an amount of Rs.10,000 would be given to such farmers for a period of three years instead of Rs. 7000.
He said, 'Pranvayu Devta Pension' scheme will be unique and the first of its kind in India. As a matter of honour, the State Government has taken an initiative to honour all those trees which are of the age of 75 years and above and have served humanity throughout their life by producing oxygen, reducing pollution, providing shade and so on. Such trees will be identified throughout the state and these will be looked after by involving local people in this scheme.
Khattar said that as a gift to the residents of Panchkula, Oxy Van Panchkula will be established in Bir Ghaggar over an area of one hundred acres to create Mother Nature’s green lungs so that the residents of Panchkula can breathe in fresh oxygen. The total cost of this project will be Rs One crore.
The Chief Minister said that the Oxy Van, Karnal will be created on Old Badshahi Canal (Also known as Mughal Canal) on an area of 80 acres covering a total length of 4.2 Kms. It is being built on 80 acres of land in Karnal.