Underlining the importance of trees on World Environment Day, Haryana chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday announced that 80 acres of ‘Oxi-van’ (a forest) will be created in Karnal district for people to visit.
“We have announced many projects today. One of them is setting up of a forest called ‘Oxi-van’ which will be open for people to visit. There will be 10 types of forests inside it. The forest will serve as a very good spot to the people of Karnal. The work will begin soon and will be thrown open to the public in a few years,” said the CM.
Highlighting the acute oxygen shortage that the Covid-19 pandemic created this year, the Haryana CM said, “Due to the shortage of oxygen during the pandemic that we had to fight this year, it made us realise the importance of trees which produce oxygen for us. It is a very big topic to increase the green cover and we have kept it on front of the public today on the occasion of World Environment Day.”
He also urged people to increase the green cover by planting more plants and trees. Meanwhile, he also said that development and matters of the environment must go hand in hand.
“Since we are in need of water conservation and developments like roads, canals, etc, thus, efforts will have to be made in both the areas. Water recharging centres will be made at designated centres while roads, allies will also have to be made, otherwise, it will be a problem for us,” said the Haryana CM.
