/Punjab’s Science Technology, Environment and Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday gave a clarion call to the society to invest in the Environment to save our future. “We are exploiting our natural resources in one and the other way,” he said addressing a seminar on environment organized by Bhagat Puran Singh Watavaran Sambhal Society at the auditorium of Punjab School Education Board, Mohali.
Citing live examples of exploitation of groundwater, Hayer said that we could not use canal water 100 percent for irrigation, so far, that results in 78 percent of our blocks in the dark zone. “No one focused on the judicious use of canal water for irrigation purposes earlier but the Bhagwant Mann Government has asserted the availability of canal water for irrigation to every nook and corner of the State and we have saved 24 percent of groundwater, so far, by doing so,” he added.
Making satire on the statements of opposition of having no drop of water to give other states, he said that in the last regimes, no one sincerely thought of use of canal water in full capacity for irrigation; and if they had done so, the table of groundwater in the State could not go deeper. Punjab has no surplus water indeed as the case of dark zones is emerging as a serious problem for all of us, he added.
Appreciating the concern of Bhagat Puran Singh Watavaran Sambhal Society towards the deteriorating environment in Punjab, the Minister said that today, there are a number of challenges standing before us. “Green cover is deteriorating speedily, water table is depleting day by day, single-use plastic posing danger and stubble is being set on fire to dispose of in a much easier way…We have to make the people aware and sensitize the students of the issues posed by the polluted environment. Students can set new precedents by taking the pledge of not using single-use plastic and being guided by others too. Similarly, we should adopt maximum canal water for irrigation and planting saplings in abundance and taking care of them till their growth,” he added.
