US appreciates Haryana for checking air pollution
USA today appreciated Haryana Government’s various measures for keeping a check on the air pollution caused due to vehicular traffic and stubble burning, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR) and offered all technological expertise to effectively deal with this problem.
Kenneth I. Juster, Ambassador of the United States of America (USA) to India who called on Chief Minister, Manohar Lal here today said that both Haryana and USA could work together on this issue of great importance which would go a long way in making the entire state pollution free.
Kenneth said that he is confident that Haryana would emerge as a leader in this area. He also commended the State Government for declaring Haryana as kerosene free and Open Defecation Free (ODF) State.
Juster served as U.S Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001-2005, in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security.
He also co-founded and served as the U.S. Chair of the U.S.- India High Technology Cooperation Group, and was one of the key architects of the next steps in strategic partnership initiative between the United States and India.
Welcoming Juster, Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that the state government is quite serious on the issue of air pollution and has taken several steps in this direction. The thermal power plants are being converted into green energy plants and much is being done in the area of stubble burning. “We are soon going to launch a fleet of 200 buses of clean fuel in Gurugram under the city bus service scheme”, he said adding that the State Government is also promoting CNG filling stations in the state.
The CM said that recently he has dedicated Haryana’s first civil airport at Hisar to the people of the state. The state government plans to develop an aero space manufacturing hub at Hisar for which the Pratt and Whitney, an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations could provide its technology and expertise. He said that during his visit to USA in 2015, the Pratt and Whitney has shown interest in developing Research and Development (R&D) facilities in the state.
Juster said that exchange of technology and expertise would further help strengthening the bilateral relations between USA and India and particularly Haryana. It was informed in the meeting today Haryana is at number one position in many spheres. In terms of Ease of Doing Business ranking, Haryana is the top state in the northern region and third ranked state in the entire country. Haryana also has highest per capita income amongst the big States except Goa and Delhi which are releatively smaller states.