India moving ahead with clear roadmap on environment, climate change: PM

New Delhi: India is moving ahead with a clear roadmap for environment protection and climate change, while maintaining a balance between present requirements and future vision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion of the World Environment Day, he said if India has expanded its 4G and 5G telecom networks, it has also enhanced its forest cover on an equal footing.

"The theme of this year's World Environment Day is to get rid of single-use plastic, an issue about which the world is talking today but India has been working on it consistently for the last four-five years.

"In 2018 itself, India started working at two levels for getting rid of single-use plastic. On one hand, we banned single-use plastic and on the other hand we made the plastic waste processing mandatory," he said.

He said India is focussing on environment in a big way just like any other area for its growth.

"On the one hand, we have provided help to the poor and on the other hand we have also taken major steps keeping in mind the fuel requirements of the future," he said.

In the past nine years, India has focussed a lot on 'green and clean energy', Modi said.