Addressing a gathering of students at the Raj Bhavan here on the occasion of the World Environment Day, Patnaik urged everybody not to treat such occasions merely as a ceremony but take it "as a day of reckoning to pledge oneself to plant a tree each for a safer, cleaner, brighter and better tomorrow."
He asked everybody to convince each of their own family members to take the 'green path'.
Patnaik further stated that due to industrialisation, most of the rivers in the country had become polluted but probably the Brahmaputra was the least polluted river in India due to few industries in the region.
Meanwhile, a Marathon run was organised in Kaziranga National Park on the occasion of World Environment Day today with nature and wildlife conservationists vowing to protect the rich bio-resources of the World Heritage site.
A section of young enthusiastic nature and wildlife lovers from across the state ran for the Green cause of conservation of the Park, famed for the one-horned rhinoceros, along a portion the National Highway 37 that flanks the southern boundary of Kaziranga National Park (KNP).
The Marathon, organised by environmental group, Aaranyak, was flagged off by Assam's Minister for Environment and Forest Rockybul Hussain who also a planted a sapling at the culmination of the race at Kohora.
