By IANS,
Dubai : Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will be conferred the first ‘Global Award for Environment and Conservation’, instituted by the Indian Citizens Committee (ICC) of Kuwait and Times weekly newspaper.
The award is being conferred on Dikshit “for her untiring efforts to promote environmental control measures and for initiating an awakening in the people towards conservation and ecological balance”, said a joint statement issued by ICC and Times.
The award, instituted Thursday on the occasion of World Environment Day, would carry a citation, a trophy and a gold medal.
ICC chairman H.S. Vedi said that under Dikshit’s leadership, the forest cover in Delhi had increased to new heights, making the Indian capital the greenest city in the world.
“The lush greenery of Delhi has been admired and appreciated by leaders across the world, most recently by the mayor of London,” he said in a statement.
Vedi added that the Delhi government’s efforts to introduce pollution free CNG buses and taxis, the anti-cracker and anti-plastic campaigns and the setting up of over 2,000 eco clubs provided the base to nominate the Delhi chief minister for the award.
“We are sure the new initiatives by her government would address other environment concerns like drinking water and water-borne diseases like malaria.
“Like other nations, Kuwait is also looking towards Delhi’s example for growth with environment concern and to emulate this by achieving a growth target within the parameters of environment protection,” Vedi said.
The ICC is an apex body of the 550,000-strong expatriate Indian community in Kuwait. It played a key role in the evacuation of Indian nationals during the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990.