Almost two weeks into monsoon, MCG’s plantation drive yet to take off

Even as the monsoon arrived on July 13 this year, there seems to be little progress with the plantation drive almost two weeks later. On Sunday, the district administration started its plantation drive, while the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority started its plantation drive last week

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram’s (MCG) plan of planting 300,000 saplings this monsoon season is yet to start, almost two weeks after monsoon arrived in the city. Officials attributed the delay to a change of strategy, with the agency currently in the process of hiring a contractor for carrying out the drive and distributing saplings to residents.

CRPF personnel plant saplings in Kadarpur village on Sunday, as part of the Gurugram district administration’s drive. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

On June 21, the MCG officials stated in an official release that they are targeting to plant at least 300,000 saplings this monsoon, including 100,000 trees and 200,000 shrubs. While the MCG had not announced a date for starting the drive, officials said it would commence as soon as the monsoon arrives in the city.

Last year, the MCG planted 105,910 saplings across the city with the help of 269 residents’ welfare associations (RWAs), with the drive started on June 27, two days after the arrival of the monsoon season.

However, even as the monsoon arrived on July 13 this year, there seems to be little progress with the plantation drive almost two weeks later. On Sunday, the district administration started its plantation drive, while the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) started its plantation drive last week.

A senior MCG official overlooking the matter, on the condition of anonymity, said that all arrangements were made to start this season’s drive from mid-July onwards but the civic agency decided to change its strategy and hire a contractor for this season’s drive.

“Just prior to the drive’s commencement, I enquired from officials about the fate of saplings regarding last year’s drive. They informed me that they primarily distributed saplings to RWAs and did not carry out any follow-up or checks regarding their fate and survival rate,” the official said.

To ensure, proper records and maintenance of saplings are done in the 2021 drive, the official cited above said that the MCG has floated tenders to hire contractors distribution of the saplings and looking after their maintenance in association with RWAs and non-governmental organisations.

“The tendering process has started. We are aiming to start the drive from mid-August onwards. The target of planting 200,000 shrubs will be achieved. However, in regards to the tree saplings, we will be revising our target and reducing it by half, to 50,000 saplings,” said the official.

Environmentalists, however, said that despite the change in strategy, the MCG’s plantation drive is likely to have limited success due to the delay. “Saplings need at least three to four weeks of continuous rains to survive, and unless the MCG manages to plant them within the next two weeks, their window will be over,” said Vaishali Rana Chandra, a city-based environmentalist.

Chandra said that instead of attempting a drive that is likely to have limited success due to the short period of time, the MCG should focus on tracing last year’s saplings and ensure that the saplings that have survived are properly maintained.

MCG officials privy to the matter said that last year, the MCG had originally aimed at planting around 40,000 saplings. “The demand from RWAs for the drive was much higher than we had anticipated. It was only then that we used the support of Gurujal and started keeping records,” an official with the MCG’s horticulture wing said.

The horticulture wing official said that the MCG has only basic records of the first 41,000 saplings it distributed to the RWAs. Later along with Gurujal, an integrated water management initiative of the district administration, records of 65,000 saplings that were distributed were kept properly.

In mid-June, the MCG and Gurujal opened registrations for RWAs and NGOs for taking part in the 2021 drive, and the invite stated the sapling distribution will be carried out between mid-July and September.

For the 2021 drive, unlike last year, the MCG also announced it will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the RWAs and the NGOs. The MoU would mandate each RWA and NGO to maintain saplings for three years. Also, a cap of 500 saplings per RWA or NGO was announced for the distribution of saplings from the MCG’s four nurseries in sectors 15, 44, and 46, and Kadipur.

MCG officials said that the majority of tree saplings would be of peepal (sacred fig) and banyan, while the shrubs will be of native species.

“The MCG has distributed saplings to a few RWAs on a limited scale. The full-fledged drive will commence soon. The GMDA already started its plantation drive last week, while the administration has started it on Sunday. The three aforementioned government entities, as well as the forest department, are committed to increasing Gurugram’s green cover through various plantation drives this monsoon season,” said Subhash Yadav, the district forest officer (DFO), who is also the additional chief executive officer of GMDA and the nodal officer of the MCG’s environment and sustainability wing.

According to a 2019 Forest Survey of India (FSI) report, only 9.2% of Gurugram’s total geographical area is under forest cover.