Mega drive planned to plant 35.38 lakh trees: Minister Gopal Rai
NEW DELHI: The Kejriwal government has set a target of planting 35.38 lakh trees under the Mega Tree Plantation Drive for the financial year 2022-23 which will be completed by the green agencies of all the 19 departments concerned. This was decided amid a high-level joint meeting held on Tuesday.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai addressing the media said, “Under this campaign, about 29 lakh approximately saplings will be planted and around 7 lakh 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.”
Rai further said, “In the year 2013, the green area in Delhi was 20 per cent, 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.
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.
Third-party audit of all depts
“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),” Rai said.