Uttarakhand Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi planted Magnolia saplings in the Raj Bhavan campus on the occasion of world environment day today.
He said in his message to people on the occasion that every person should look upon environment protection not only as his or her duty but as a religion which must be followed. "It should be looked upon as a religious duty. Everyone has to fulfill this duty by opposing exploitation of natural resources, illegal felling and any harm to the environment," he said. He said Uttarakhand was the home of the world famous Chipko movement but today, due to vested interests of some people, its forests were on fire and also ,trees were being felled "To save these forests , each person has to resolve to join hands and work to protect the environment. Saving nature and environment is the biggest global challenge today."
The Governor said that like developed countries, we should also have to adopt technologies which would help check or minimise forest fires and the damage caused by them. Talking to mediapersons present after the plantation,he said he had already sent the proposal for adopting modern techniques to put out forest fires to the Central as well as State governments .
During the plantation programme organised by the forest department, the Governor told school children present that environment conservation was every one's moral and religious duty. He expressed alarm at the debris being thrown in the reserve forest area of Raj Bhavanand asked the DFO to have it immediately removed and take action against the person responsible for doing it.
Other dignitaries including ADC Dr.YS Rawat, DFO (Nainital) Parag Madhukar Dhakate, SDO (Forest ) Dinkar Tiwari, K.C.Sayal, D.S.Bonal, several other foresters, Raj Bhavan Horticulture in-charge Kamal Joshi , Raj Bhavan officials and staff and PWD..