- High level joint meeting held with all concerned departments regarding Mega Tree Plantation Drive in Delhi Secretariat today – Gopal Rai
- Delhi Government issues a new green helpline number — 1800118600, via which individuals and concerned RWA, NGOs can obtain complete information about the Mega Tree Plantation Drive
- Kejriwal Government’s Mega Tree Plantation Drive campaign from July onwards
- All concerned departments have been ordered to conduct a third-party audit – Gopal Rai
- Main objective of Mega Tree Plantation Drive will be to increase the Green Cover of Delhi – Gopal Rai New Delhi
Today a high level joint meeting was held with all the concerned departments regarding Mega Tree Plantation Drive at the Delhi Secretariat. Officers from all concerned departments, including the Forest Department, MCD, DDA, Railways, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, CPWD, DSIIDC, BSES, NDPL, and others, were present at the meeting.
Divulging more details on the same, Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai, said, “As a result of all the measures taken by the Kejriwal Government, a significant increase in the green cover has been seen inside Delhi. In this regard, the Kejriwal Government has set a goal of planting 35.38 lakh trees under the Mega Tree Plantation Drive for this financial year 2022-23 which will be completed by the green agencies of all the 19 concerned departments.”
He further added, “Under this campaign, about 29 lakh approx. saplings will be planted and around 7 lakh approx. saplings will be distributed free of cost. Various major tasks, such as soil preparation, excavating trenches, preparing saplings, soil fertilisation, and so on, will be done in the months of May and June. And the process of planting the saplings will begin from the month of July.”
Shri Gopal Rai further said, “In the year 2013, the green area in Delhi was 20%, but thanks to the efforts of the Kejriwal Government, it has increased to 23.06 percent for the year 2021. In addition, Delhi has surpassed all other cities in the country in terms of per capita forest cover.”
Kejriwal government issues a green helpline number
Emphasising on the Mega Tree Plantation Drive, Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai has urged all Delhi citizens to actively participate in this campaign. All RWAs, NGOs, and other similar organisations working in this field have also been appealed to participate in the Mega Tree Plantation Drive. Keeping this in consideration, the Delhi government has issued a green helpline number, 1800118600, via which individuals and concerned RWA, NGOs can obtain complete information about the Mega Tree Plantation Drive.
Instructions to conduct third party audit of all departments
“Under the Mega Tree Plantation Drive, all the concerned departments have been directed to conduct third party audits to check the survival rate of plants planted last year in Delhi. If a department has not yet had a third-party audit completed, orders have been issued to have it audited by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Combating Climate Change (MGICCC). In future also, this institute will perform further plantation-related third-party audits,” the Environment Minister informed.
Shri Gopal Rai requested Delhi residents to get involved in improving the city’s green cover. He urged Delhi residents to plant trees on their special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. This effort will not only expand Delhi’s green cover, but it will also lay out a plan to combat pollution in the future.