NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is set to transform 15 scattered patches of vacant land across the capital into dense urban forests, called ‘Namo Vans’, to enhance the city’s green cover and combat air pollution.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, along with Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and other key officials, held a meeting in this regard.
Officials said the NaMo Vans will span over 177 acres and, once developed along with two upcoming Miyawaki forests, will bring the total number of urban forests in Delhi to 17. Work on the project is expected to begin soon, with plantation activities scheduled for November.
They added that the new forests will not only enhance Delhi’s landscape but also create vital green spaces for residents. The initiative is part of efforts to make the capital greener and combat pollution, with these dense green zones serving as the city’s natural lungs.
Stretching across the North and South Forest Divisions, the Namo Vans will come up in Sathbari and Maidan Garhi in the South and Shahpur Garhi, Alipur, B4 Narela, Mamurpur, G7 and G8 Narela, Barwala in Sector 32 Rohini, Pehladpur Bagar in Sector 30 Rohini, Pansali in Sector 32 Rohini, Mahamudpura Mazri A in Rohini, Pansali in Sector 31 Rohini, and Sector 32 Rohini in the North.
The two Miyawaki forests will come up in southwest Delhi. As many as 3.5 lakh saplings of native species will be planted in Kharkhari Jatmal (2.44 hectares) and Jainpur (4.54 hectares), located near Najafgarh, where one of them will be named after Guru Tegh Bahadur. Miyawaki forests, which are 30 times denser than regular forests, were pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1980s, where saplings are planted closely to form a dense ecosystem that promotes faster growth and higher carbon dioxide (CO2) capture.
Officials said that while a Miyawaki plantation will appear dense in six to eight months, that would take several years for a conventional forest.
“If plantation cannot commence in November due to low temperature, then we will do it in February,” a forest official said.