To mark World Environment Day, the Delhi government will launch a mega plantation drive to plant 33 lakh saplings in a year.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday said that around 33 lakh saplings of trees and shrubs will be planted in a bid to combat air pollution and bring down PM10 levels.
“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had given a guarantee before elections that they would plant 2 crore saplings in the next five years. Following this, the Delhi government’s target is to plant 33 lakh saplings this year, which is near twice the target set by the Central government. Beginning June 5, in all the nurseries of the Delhi government, citizens will be able to take free saplings of the medicinal plants,” he informed.
Rai said that the city government planted 32 lakh trees in the last year. “It is twice the target set by the Centre. We were told to plant 15 lakh saplings but we achieved more than double of it. This year, the target set by the union government is 18 lakh but we will strive to cross the achievement of the previous year,” Rai added.
The environment minister also said that the UT government’s afforestation drive will significantly expand the city’s green cover.
“In 2017, Delhi’s Green Arena covered 299 km, which increased to 325 km, and we are hopeful that this year’s tree plantation program will further increase this to an area of about 350 km,” he shared with the reporters.