Odisha government is committed to green goals : Chief Secretary

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Apr 22:

Thousands of people, many of them young students, across Odisha joined the worldwide celebrations of the Earth Day on Tuesday with the theme ‘Green Cities’ calling for transformation in the public transportation systems to make them more accessible, convenient, and clean fuel-run.

In Bhubaneswar several programmes, rallies and meetings were organized by the state government, NGOs and green groups to spread awareness on the great need to conserve the Mother Earth and make it a better place to live in.

At a state level function to observe the Earth Day, organized at the Jayadev Bhawan by the state Forest department, the chief secretary J K Mohapatra highlighted the steps taken by the state government towards reduction of the ‘green house effect’ as well as conservation of biodiversity, forest and environment in the state through programmes such as massive plantation, protection of forests and wildlife, launching of Sabuja Odisha Mission 2013-14 and constitution of State Biodiversity Board, Wetland Board and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) programme.

Mohapatra emphasized on the need to strike a balance between developmental activities that are necessary for the progress of the state and the conservation measures required for the protection of environment.
R K Sharma, Principal Secretary of Forest and Environment department and Dr R K Panda, Professor of earth Science, IIT, Bhubaneswar also addressed the gathering.

Prof. Panda spoke on the relevance of celebrating Earth Day in the present day context, besides focusing on various aspects of mitigating the adverse effect of climate change on the planet earth to keep it safe and sound for the future generations.