To check the negative impact of climate change in Haryana, the State will have a dedicated cell to work as the key advisory body to the Government on concerning environment issues.

“The Climate Change Division Cell will be constituted during the next fiscal and experts from various departments including environment, health, forest, agriculture etc would be the members of the cell,” said a senior Government official.

The official said: “The Haryana Environment Department has been conferred with the onus to establish the cell. All other departments of the State Government including Health, Forests, Pollution Board, and HAREDA will also assist the Environment Department in this initiative.”

He said: “At present, the proposal to establish the Climate Change Division Cell is with the State Ministry of Environment and Forests for finalisation. The State Government is also mulling to constitute further sub-groups under the Cell to look at the specific environmental issues at the district levels.”

Outlining the ongoing worldwide climate talks, the official said that the people generalise the situation of climate change with the change in extreme weather conditions and rise in temperature observed on earth in the last decade but the climate change is not only limited to this and has several other dimensions.

“The climate change is most serious environmental concern and is also underlying the cause of increasing incidence of severe weather. The issue of climate change demands a high-level commitment to deal with the day-to-day concerns in environment,” said the official.

“The Climate Change Cell will focus on measures to be adopted to combat the climate change. Awareness programmes and rallies for the general public will be organised by the cell, time and again covering all the districts in the State. The cell would also promote renewable energy,” added the official.

Lately, the State Government had also planned to carry out a survey concerning the climate change to recapitulate the effects of climate change on diverse spheres of various districts in the State. The impact of climate change on forests, water resources, agriculture or crops, animal husbandry, pollution, health etc will be reviewed during the survey in all the districts of the State.

“Persisting in their endeavour to reduce the green houses gases in the environment, the State Government is already sensitising the school going children towards environmental issues and to induce responsible behaviour among them through 2100 eco-clubs established in various Government schools in the State,” added the official.