Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the green cover in the national capital has increased from 20 per cent in 2013 to 23.6 per cent in 2021.
The minister made the statement during a meeting convened by him with the representatives of 21 agencies to chalk out the plantation action plan for 2024-25.
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“The plantation drive in Delhi has been extremely helpful in achieving our goal of reducing the pollution levels in Delhi. We have been making conscious efforts by planting more trees to increase the green cover in Delhi,” he said.
Citing that the Chief Minister has fulfilled all the promises he made during the last elections, Rai said, “One of the 10 promises that the Chief Minister made was about the plantation of two crore saplings and trees in Delhi within the next five years.”
“We are happy to announce that we have been able to achieve that target within four years. We have already planted 2 crore and 5 lakh trees in Delhi in the last four years. Last year, we had announced 52 lakh trees will be planted in Delhi in 2023. We have not only achieved that, the NDMC has planted an additional 35 lakh shrubs throughout New Delhi,” he said.
The minister also announced that the government has set another goal of planting 63 lakh plants in the upcoming fiscal year, 2024-2025, with the help of 21 departments of Delhi.
This goal is in addition to our five-year plan of planting two crore plants in Delhi, he added.