Govt aims at planting 40 lakh saplings, highest so far

The Delhi government has set a target to plant around 40 lakh saplings across the national Capital in 2020-21—the highest ever so far. The plantation drive is to

The Delhi government has set a target to plant around 40 lakh saplings across the national Capital in 2020-21—the highest ever so far. The plantation drive is to begin July first week, officials said.

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According to officials in the forest department, the nodal agency for plantation in the city, preparations are on in full swing for the monsoon, which is the ideal time for planting saplings, despite a few hurdles in transportation because of the ongoing nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The projected plantation for this fiscal is almost double that of last year’s (23 lakh saplings). This, despite the fact that last year, the target was lower than the previous year’s 32 lakh, which has been the highest until now. This was mainly because greening agencies had raised concerns over the lack of plantation area. Plantation areas primarily comprise vegetation-deficient areas, such as wastelands and clear barren patches, that are not available in the city as such.

The massive plantation targets were part of the Delhi government’s strategy to mitigate air pollution in the Capital by increasing green cover. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had kick-started the drive in 2018.

“We have already completed last year’s target in December and are moving on to this year’s, which is a huge target to meet. The plantation will be carried out in the south (Asola), west (Alipur) and north divisions, where large patches of land are available. The overall target is distributed among at least 20 greening agencies,” a senior department official, who did not wish to be named, said.

He added that this year the target is higher, mainly because of the afforestation drive to be taken up at the Yamuna floodplains, as per directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the custodian of the floodplains, has been assigned the target of planting 10 lakh saplings followed by five lakh each by the forest department and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The forest department will distribute five lakh saplings for free to citizens to plant, another official said. The other agencies involved in plantation include the New Delhi Municipal Council, the North and East municipal corporations and the Public Works Department (PWD), among others.

More than 90% of the saplings to be planted will be native species such as peepal, bargad, gular, jamun, gulmohar, sheesham, arjun and pilkhan, among others.

However, a senior DDA official said that so far they target planting around four lakh saplings, as per the space available, of which around 1.80 lakh will be planted on the Yamuna floodplains.

“As per the space available for plantation on the floodplains and in the various parks, we are preparing to plant four lakh saplings. On the floodplains, around 1.23 lakh shrubs and about 57,000 tree saplings will be planted. We have prepared estimates and floated tenders. There is a slight delay in the process because most of the services are shut due to the lockdown,” the official said, not wishing to be named.

He added that as per a third-party audit of last year’s plantation, the survival rate of saplings has been around 90%-95%. The DDA is already in the process of restoring a part of the floodplains, which includes developing forest and nature trails in different zones of the floodplains.

However, forest department officials said that they had already discussed the target with the representatives of the DDA and will hold a meeting with them soon over the issue.

According to experts, since the government is looking at a huge target, the maintenance and survival of saplings are of primary importance.

CR Babu, professor emeritus at the Centre for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems at Delhi University, said, “It is a welcome step. Before they embark on the massive greening exercise, the various agencies must put out the survival rate of the previous plantations and ensure the maintenance of saplings.”

He added that developing a floodplains forest would play a huge role in enhancing the water quality of the Yamuna and in maintaining the ecological biodiversity of the river, which must be done at the earliest.