Sad that none availed of free power scheme by planting trees: Agri min

Ranchi: Agriculture minister Badal Patralekh on Monday rued that a significant step taken by chief minister Hemant Soren towards environment conservation a year ago did not receive the desired response from the state’s urban residents.
Speaking as the chief guest at a programme organized by the state department of forests, environment and climate change at the Project Building to mark the World Environment Day, Patralekh said Soren’s promise of providing five units of free electricity to urban residents, if they planted the saplings of one fruit bearing tree in their homes or commercial establishments, did not find any takers.
“People clapped and lauded the announcement when it was made a year ago. It was a commendable initiative by the CM. Sadly, none came to claim the free electricity units. None from the forest department also came,” Patralekh said. “This went on to show us that the awareness among the people towards environment conservation is low in Jharkhand,” he added.
Soren had made the announcement on July 22 last year while addressing a gathering to mark the 73rd Van Mahotsav in Ranchi.
The forest department and the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board on Monday felicitated more than 15 people from across the state to acknowledge their contributions in environment conservation over the past years.
Manoj Kumar, assistant principal at Hazaribag’s teacher training institute, was felicitated for planting over 5,000 saplings of banyan and peepal trees in the district while Satya Prakash, another Hazaribag resident, was honoured for his efforts towards conservation of vultures in the district.
Indrajeet Samantha, a Koderma resident, was felicitated for his efforts to conserve bird habitats around Charwa Dam in Hazaribag and Tilaiya Dam in Koderma. Another Surendra Prasad Singh, a retired school teacher from Hazaribag, was felicitated for his efforts to conserve the environment for the past three decades by composing and performing his own songs in rural areas.
Jharkhand’s principal chief conservator of forests Sanjay Srivastava said over 40,000 events were held across 24 districts since May 10 this year as a part of the awareness campaign under the Centre’s ‘Mission Life’ pledge. “More than 12 lakh people connected to us through these campaigns. Srivastava emphasized on making behavioural changes to preserve energy, water and consciously avoiding the use of single use plastics.