Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai informed on Tuesday that his ministry has improved the green cover of the national capital by twice the target given by the Centre.
“Kejriwal-led government has successfully breached the target designated by the central government to various states in expanding the green cover. The target allocated to us was 2,338 hectares, however, Delhi lodged the area to 4,654, which is a huge achievement for us,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, he also stated that the Delhi government has planted 210 per cent more trees than its designated target in a year.
“We were assigned to plant 15 lakh 20 thousand trees in Delhi, while our government had set it to 31 lakh. I am happy and deeply proud to announce that we have planted around 32 lakh trees in a single year, which is 210 per cent more than the target designated by the central government. This has massively contributed to the curb in air pollution and has affected the environmental conditions in a very positive manner,” Rai said.
As per the minister, such initiatives by the UT government have led to a substantial decline in the city’s air pollution.
“A couple of studies by environmental organisations proved that pollution in Delhi has been decreasing between 15-25 per cent,” he stated.
Divulging further action by the Kejriwal government in the environment, Rai told reporters that the Delhi government is aiming to plant 2 crore trees within 5 years.
“Like the previous year, the Kejriwal-led government will be working extensively this year too on tree plantations, and similar campaigns will be initiated, and the Delhi government aims to plant 2 crore trees within a span of 5 years,” he said.
“We will present the roadmap of the coming year in another month, after conducting joint meetings of various departments,” Rai added.