Delhi Govt to commence Mega Plantation Drive from Feb 26, aims to plant 52 lakh trees this year

New Delhi [India], February 21 (ANI): The Delhi Government will commence a Mega Plantation Drive from 26 February. The drive aims to plant 52 lakh trees this year and will be launched at Bela Farm by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself with the planting of 20,000 trees.
Announcing the drive's launch, Environment and Forests Minister Gopal Rai said in a press conference at Delhi Secretariat, "We want to make Delhi green, and the plantation drive is one of the major initiatives to achieve our goal. We request all residents of Delhi to come forward and actively participate in the drive, so that together we can make our city more beautiful and healthy."
Earlier in the day Gopal Rai chaired a meeting over the government's plantation drive. The meeting was attended by more than 30 agencies, including senior officials from the Forest Department, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Education Department, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Environment Department, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Central Public Works Department (CPWD), North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), Irrigation and Flood Control Department (IFCD), Northern Railway, Biodiversity and Parks Management Committee, and other relevant organisations.
After the meeting, Gopal Rai stated that the Delhi government has set an ambitious target of planting 52 lakh saplings this year, including 20 lakh big trees, 25 lakh shrubs, and 7 lakh saplings to be distributed to the people of Delhi. Last year, the government had set a target of planting 42 lakh saplings, but ended up planting more than the target by planting 47 lakh saplings.
He said, "This year, the forest department has been assigned the target of planting the maximum number of trees - 18 lakh saplings - while other agencies will also contribute towards the initiative with NDMC planting 5 lakh, Education Department 4.5 lakh, MCD 4 lakh and DDA 9 lakh."
Gopal Rai also said that, "Many wonder when the issue of pollution in Delhi will be solved and how. State, national, and international reports are published regularly on this issue. I would like to congratulate the people of Delhi as well as all the agencies within Delhi that have been working night and day to solve this issue, because according to the most recently released list of the most polluted cities in the world, Delhi is no longer in the top 10, as was the case previously."
"This is largely due to the fact that the plan to combat air pollution includes a participatory feature, which has led to these great results. In 2016, the annual number of 'good' days with low pollution was 109. Last year, the figure increased to 160 such 'good' days. This is reflected in the newer international reports on air pollution as well," he added.
Speaking about the importance of tree plantation in combating pollution, he said that, "to measure and regulate air pollution in Delhi, we annually develop a winter action plan along with a long term plan. The most important feature of these plans is necessarily tree plantation. To increase the green belt in Delhi, afforestation and tree plantation have been undertaken with active contribution from the people of Delhi and government agencies."
Adding further, he announced, "For the following year, a tree plantation drive is being developed in joint collaboration with several Delhi government departments. Officials from the forest department, NDMC, education department, BSES, DUSIB, MCD, DDA, DJB, department of environment, DSIDC, PWD, CPWD, NDPL, DMRC, irrigation flood department, Northern railways, Delhi Cantt Board, etc have participated in the discussions."
The Minister emphasised the importance of the tree plantation drive and informed that the government has set a higher target this year as compared to last year. He said, "This includes 20 lakh fully grown trees and 25 lakh shrubberies. The people of Delhi will be encouraged to plant 7 lakh saplings in and around their homes." (ANI)