‘‘This day is becoming more significant with each year. We have come to a stage where we are facing the consequences of ravaging the environment. There are certain things which we must stop doing at all costs,’’ he said.

A much-needed set of laws pertaining to West Bengal’s water bodies and wetlands has been formulated by the forest department, the environment department, and three other bodies. ‘‘I had given specific orders that any structure on the East Kolkata wetlands should be destroyed, but this was being done without laws to back it up. Now, the situation has been rectified with the new laws,’’ he said. The chief minister added that he was looking very carefully at the state of wildlife sanctuaries in the state.

‘‘We have to put a stop to poaching. For this, the intelligence cell has been improved and law enforcement officers have been given more striking power,’’ he said.

Further, to ensure that prolonged legal battles pertaining to environmental offences do not lead to a delay of justice, the High Court has been asked to set up certain fast track courts to deal with such cases.

‘‘We are confident that the High Court will approve this,’’ said Bhattacharjee. He also said that he had approached GAIL to set up a pipeline in West Bengal, in order to supply CNG.

‘‘This will solve half our air pollution problems, as vehicular pollution would be cut down drastically,’’ he said.

Stating that there was a dire need to stop the felling of trees in urban spaces immediately, he said: ‘‘A huge number of trees were felled to make way for flyovers and widen pavements in the city. This still haunts me from time to time.’’

The forest department has made a draft of anti-felling laws, the chief minister pointed out. Bhattacharjee also raised the issues of disposal of medical wastes in regions other than Kolkata and Hooghly, and use of plastic bags.

The chief minister released six publications and one CD.