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O.P. Soni, Environment Minister meets EcoSikh in Jalandhar

News Link:  Yes Punjab Ajit

Jalandhar: O. P. Soni, Environment and Education Minister of Punjab, had a meeting with the representatives of EcoSikh regarding the environmental issues facing Punjab and how to connect the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak with environmental activism.  EcoSikh apprised the minister about organization’s plan to celebrate Guru Nanak’s 550th birth-anniversary by planting 550 trees at 1820 locations to reach the target of 1 million trees.

EcoSikh plans to give a report to the United Nations at the end of 2019 that people of Punjab have planted that many trees while celebrating Guru Nanak’s birth-anniversary.  O.P. Soni expressed his appreciation for this creative and noble plan and he assured that Punjab government would like to have a partnership with EcoSikh and would like to support the greening campaign in celebrations of Guru Nanak’s 550th anniversary.

O.P. Soni, said, “Punjab is facing many environmental challenges and it is heartening to see NRIs and organization as EcoSikh committed to saving Punjab’s environment and ecology. We need more people to come forward and together we can achieve our goal of increasing the green cover in Punjab and make it a sustainable state.” He also stated the goal of planting 500,000 trees in government schools across the state by the environmental ministry.    

The environmental minister was informed by EcoSikh officials about a unique project called ‘Guru Nanak Bagh’ launched by EcoSikh at Patto Hira Singh village in Moga district. 13 species of trees mentioned in Guru Granth Sahib have been planted in a 5-acre land and the total number of 40 species will still be planted associated with Punjab’s terrain.    

EcoSikh Global President, Dr Rajwant Singh from Washington DC thanked O. P. Soni for his time and his commitment for the betterment of Punjab’s environment. He also thanked Punjab government for the initiative of the iHaryali app through which a mass number of saplings were made available to people across the state.    

He stated, “While celebrating Guru Nanak’s gurpurab, it is important for all of us highlight  Guru Nanak’s teaching on nature. We are confident that this will inspire not only people of Punjab and India but people all over the world. It’s high time that we come together to safeguard the air by making a gift of 1 million trees for our Guru Nanak on His 550th Gurpurab. It is the best way to celebrate His love for nature and protect our Mother Earth. EcoSikh is also creating a mobile app platform to consolidate this report and it will be presented at United Nations as a unified effort by all communities for the mother earth.”

Supreet Kaur, President of EcoSikh Punjab, thanked the minister for encouraging EcoSikh to carry forward this vision and mission for Punjab’s environment. She presented the Punjab minister a poster of 550 Rukh Guru De Naam and a guide to empower and educate common people to engage in plantation drives.    
She added, “Over 30 teams of 500 youngsters from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chhatisgarh, Jammu, Karnal, Assam and foreign cities of Derby (UK), Hong Kong, Washington DC have already started plantations under the GuruNanak 550 campaign.”    
Jaspreet Singh from Ludhiana, Ibadat Singh from Amritsar, Rupinder Singh from Delhi, Mohan Singh from Faridabad and Ravneet Singh from Ludhiana, members of EcoSikh’s board joined the meeting.