Khattar to join World Wetlands Day event

Chandigarh: World Wetlands Day will be observed tomorrow at Sultanpur National Park located in Gurugram, Haryana. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will also participate in this programme. It will be chaired by the union minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav. The programme will be conducted jointly in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Haryana Government.

Giving further information in this regard, an official spokesperson said that Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (HPWWMA) is working for restoration and rejuvenation of all water bodies/ lakes/ ponds in the state for which World Wetlands Day is observed.

On this occasion, Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (HPWWMA) will display works related to the restoration of ponds through posters and models. Along with this, through a power-point presentation and short documentary, the works and achievements of the Authority since its inception will also be presented.

The spokesperson said Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (HPWWMA) was notified on September 23, 2018. Since its inception the Authority has been working to restore the waste water flowing into the ponds, to rejuvenate the ponds as well as to treat and manage them. The authority has collected data of 18,751 ponds and made it available through Pond Data Management System (PDMM) software.

He said that Sultanpur National Park (SNP), Gurugram and Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary were declared as Ramsar sites in May 2021. With this, Haryana state has come onto the map of wetlands having international

significance.

The total number of Ramsar sites in India at present is 47. Two more wetlands namely- Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary (Gujarat) & Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary (UP) will be brought that day within the purview of Ramsar sites, taking the Ramsar wetlands number in India to 49, he added.