PAC for Sutlej and Mattewara Forest organized photo walk, photography competition and tree plantation drive 

Ludhiana, September 6, 2021: PAC for Sutlej and Mattewara Forest organized a photo walk, photography competition and a tree plantation drive to celebrate Teacher's Day in the Mattewara Forest region and Sutlej bank and to raise awareness about the natural beauty of the area here on Sunday. A large number of citizens including children, students and teachers participated in the activities. Renowned photographer from the city Janmeja Singh Johl was the main judge for the photography competition.
 
Talking about the competition Janmeja Singh Johl said, "Nature is the best teacher and it is nice to see so much enthusiasm of so many participants who reached here early in the morning from Ludhiana to take part in this photo walk and photography competition. Some of the pariticipants reached even before sunrise to capture  beauty of the rising Sun on Sutlej. Many have captured beautiful scenes of the wild life. We have recieved around 50 entries in all for the competition and it was indeed tough to select top 4 for the prizes." 
 
Talking on the occasion Dr Balbir Shah who retired as medical superintendent of DMC said, "It is very nice to see that people are waking up to preserve nature. I have taught medical students for almost 3 decades and I have always emphasized to my students that they should value and preserve nature. It is great to see young children participating in tree plantation drive today to safeguard nature. We should also compel govt to preserve nature. Govt can for example make it mandatory for citizens to plant ten trees and submit proof of the same when getting and land registries done."
 
Kashmir Singh of Sekhowal village whose entire 416 acres agricultural land has been acquired by the government for Industrial/Textile park near here said, "We are also participating in this exercise to preserve nature by planting trees. We are also fighting a legal battle in the courts against GLADA to quash this illegal land transfer. This battle is not only to save livelihoods of 70 poor families but also to save Sutlej and drinking water of millions in Punjab and Rajasthan from industrial pollution."
 
Col CM Lakhanpal of PAC said, "This region has some beautiful lakes also. These are special types of lakes called oxbow lakes which are formed due to meander of the river on its flood plain. One such oxbow lake exists in this region that is so large that it touches three nearby villages ie. Rattangarh, Miani and Balliwal on different sides. Such lakes on the river flood plain are beautiful gifts of nature and parts of Sutlej ecosystem which have some how survived the land grab till date and must be preserved for the future generations. Such events will make people aware of such wonders and must be continued."
 
Among others S. Gurjeet Singh Sanghera, Ms Puja Sengupta and S Malkeet Singh Dhillon, Director Excellent public also participated in tree plantation drive.
 
The prizes in the photography competition were won by Jaskaran Singh (1st), Ashwinder Sethi (2nd), Dr Manoj Gupta (3rd), Jagjit Singh (4th).