NEW DELHI: The Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute (FRI) has started conducting an audit to assess the “success and survival rate” of all transplanted trees in the national capital, officials said on Thursday. The audit will also help ascertain the impact of the tree transplantation policy, an official said. The exercise started around a week ago and the trees transplanted in the south division are being covered at present, he said.
The forest department is likely to publish the audit report on its website in November-end. To assess the “success and survival” rate of the transplanted trees, an FRI team is looking at the site selection criteria for transplantation, size of pits and their spacing; method and time of transplantation, health and growth of the transplanted trees and maintenance schedule, the official said.
The FRI scientists are also taking stock of irrigation frequency, soil-moisture conservation, check dams, contour trenches, fencing measures, silviculture practices and protection strategies against biotic and abiotic interferences etc.
In April, the Delhi government approved a proposal to conduct a third-party audit to assess the “success and survival rate” of all transplanted trees in the national capital. According to data submitted to the Delhi High Court in May, only one-third (33.33 per cent) of the 16,461 trees transplanted in the capital over the last three years have survived.
During an interim survey, the forest department found that only 1,521 of the 4,162 trees transplanted in 2019-20 have survived. Just 2,001 (28.57%) of the 7,003 trees survived in 2020-21 and 1,965 (37.10 %) of the 5,296 trees transplanted in 2021-22 are alive, the data showed.