With the twin objective of beautifying the cities and reducing pollution level in Punjab, the State Government would soon set up ‘Punjab State landscaping Authority’ to facelift the cities with a clean and green look.
The approval for the same was given by the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a review meeting of the various urban development authorities, attended by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, on late Wednesday evening.
“It is the need of the hour to enhance green cover in cities to save urban residents from the scourge of ever increasing pollution causing respiratory diseases,” said Badal.
He said that the haphazard growth in the cities have turned them into concrete jungles due to which the residents were becoming prone to a number of health ailments.
“The best solution for all these problems is to enhance greenery in the cities, which would not only beautify them but would also reduce pollution,” said Badal.
Justifying the creation of a new body, Badal said that since the Urban Development Authorities were paying least heed to the greenery of the cities, so a state-level authority must be formed with a sole mandate to oversee the entire operations for green cover in the cities.
He said that Urban local Bodies would recruit specialised staff for this purpose so that the cities could be refurbished under the aegis of ‘Punjab State landscaping Authority’.
The Chief Minister also directed officials to prepare a comprehensive master plan for achieving the desired goal in a time bound manner.
Sukhbir said that young and trained horticulture experts must be picked from the premier institutes like Punjab Agriculture University, ludhiana, and employed for this purpose.
He also proposed to entrust the entire work of maintenance of these parks and lawns besides the green belts in the public buildings to the upcoming landscaping Authority, which would not only ensure its maintenance in professional manner but also curtail expenditure, due to duplicacy of efforts being currently undertaken by PWD and various other Urban Development authorities.