DM orders forest dept to plant maximum saplings on Hindon, Yamuna banks

Effective measures for curbing air pollution and ensuring Grap Stage 2 guidelines, that includes dust mitigation methods such as water sprinkling exercises, ban on construction/demolition, ban on burning solid waste, etc, must be adhered to

The Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma directed the officials of forest department to plant maximum saplings on the banks of rivers Yamuna and Hindon that pass through the district.

Officials of various departments have been asked to identify the spots for tree plantation and to submit the demand for saplings to the forest department within three days. (HT Archive)

Verma, while holding a review meeting of the district environment, tree plantation and Ganga committee, said necessary steps must be undertaken to ensure dust mitigation and launch a campaign to check violations of the graded response action plan (Grap) guidelines in the district.

He said, “A meeting was organised with the committee with an objective of reducing air pollution in the city and taking measures for promoting green environment while also ensuring compliance of the National Green Tribunal norms”.

“Instructions have been issued to the officials concerned to take steps for tree planting and ensuring compliance of the orders as per the NGT and pollution control board norms,” said the DM.

Verma said the Gautam Budh Nagar district is a sensitive place in terms of environment related issues and is also an industrial hub that witnesses high vehicular movement throughout the day. Effective measures for curbing air pollution and ensuring Grap Stage 2 guidelines, that includes dust mitigation methods such as water sprinkling exercises, ban on construction/demolition, ban on burning solid waste, etc, must be adhered to.

Officials said that directions have been issued to identify places for planting saplings as per the targets granted and submit a report within three days.

District forest officer (DFO) Pramod Kumar Srivastava said, “Officials of various departments have been asked to identify the spots for tree plantation and to submit the demand for saplings to the forest department within three days so that the report can be sent to the state government. We have to ensure maximum plantation on the banks of the Hindon and the Yamuna.”

He further said, “The step for ensuring maximum plantation on the river banks is aimed at preventing soil erosion while also curbing construction/encroachment activities.”

Notably, the air quality in Noida and Greater Noida have been hovering between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ levels on the air quality index (AQI) scale. According to Central Pollution Control Board, on Tuesday, the AQI of Noida was 337 while that of Greater Noida’s was 335, both in the ”very poor” zone. On Monday, the AQI of Noida and Greater Noida was 288 and 277, respectively, both in the ”poor” zone.