By IANS,
Guwahati : Assam Governor J.B. Patnaik Tuesday lunched an environment project to make the Raj Bhavan here “a green castle” and to create awareness among people, particularly children, about a sustainable habitat.
The hill where the state Raj Bhavan is located is a biodiversity hot spot with diverse flora and fauna.
The “Eastern Roshni” project has been developed on the lines of “Roshni” which was implemented at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to turn it into a green, energy-efficient and zero-waste model township.
President Pratibha Patil launched the project “Roshni” at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2008. It is a green, innovative concept encompassing environment management and empowerment of local communities to create eco-friendly and sustainable urban habitats through participation of stakeholders and convergence of partnership programmes.
The Assam governor after launching the project on the occasion of World Environment Day Tuesday gifted tree saplings to school children and appealed to them to plant them in their schools.
“World Environment Day is not just a ceremony but a day of pledge taking,” he said and added that the sole aim of observing World Environment Day should be to commit to protect the environment by taking a vow to plant at least a tree each year on this day every year.
“Eastern Roshni is an initiative of Assam Governor J.B. Patnaik to develop the Raj Bhavan campus into ‘a green castle of sustainable practices’ and to create awareness among the people, particularly children, about sustainable habitat,” said Simanta Kalita, Northeast Coordinator of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE).
It is an NGO which has jointly implemented the project with the governor’s secretariat.
“Work has already begun and we are documenting plants, animals, birds and other flora and fauna found on the hillock where the Raj Bhavan is located. Already 120 plants have been identified and more than 50 species of birds have been found in and around Raj Bhavan. We have prepared a brochure, which the governor formally released Tuesday,” Kalita said.
The project will also document reptiles found on the hill, he added. “The hill where the Raj Bhavan is located is a biodiversity hot spot and the governor expressed his willingness to protect and preserve the biodiversity. We have already prepared two translights (hoardings) on the flora and fauna,” he said.
As part of the environment education programme under the project, CEE has identified 10 schools in the city. The CEE is likely to spread the project to other schools too in future.