Punjab govt to launch drive to preserve state ecology, water

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said the government will launch a massive drive to preserve the flora and fauna of the state and recharging the water table for coming generations.

Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of the 'Chitti Bein' here, the CM said Punjab is the land of great gurus and saints, who showed us the way to preserve the environment, an official release said.

Following the footsteps of the gurus, the state government will soon embark upon a massive campaign to preserve the natural resources of the state, he said, as he called upon people to support the campaign and make it a mass movement.

The Chief minister quoting 'Gurbani' said "Pavan Guru, Paani Pitaah, Mata Dharat Mahat." "This explains how our great gurus equated air (pavan) with teacher, water (paani) with father, and land (dharat) with mother.

"Unfortunately, the word of the gurus has not been honoured by us, as we have polluted all these three," he said.

Slamming the opposition parties for "blatantly ignoring" the environmental issues, Mann said since water, air and land cannot vote, they ignored them.

He said the massive pollution and degradation of natural resources is turning out to be an irreparable loss for the society.

Mann also said the state government is taking significant steps to ensure there is optimum use of the canal water and more and more groundwater can be saved.

At present Punjab is using only 33-34 per cent of its canal water, which will be enhanced in the coming days, he said.

If Punjab can enhance canal water utilisation to 60 per cent in the first phase, then about four out of 14 lakh tubewells in the state can be made redundant, he said.