75-80% saplings planted in Delhi from 2016-2019 survived: Gopal Rai
Delhi had set a goal of planting 3.1 million saplings in 2021-22, and over 3.2 million saplings have been planted so far, environment minister Gopal Rai said.
The survival rate of saplings planted during plantation drives in the Capital in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 has been between 75% to 80%, environment minister Gopal Rai on Friday said, quoting an audit report by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.
In the north division, which includes Shahdara, the survival rate of saplings is 80.21%, according to the report. In the west division, the report showed a survival rate of 78.5% in the Alipur Range and 75.68% in the Najafgarh Range. In the south division, the report showed a survival rate of 72% in Mehrauli, 76% in phase 1 and 81.33% in phase 2 in Asola Bhatti. “So if we take all these figures into consideration and look at the average survival rate, we get around 75-80% survival rate of these saplings from the audited years,” said Rai.
Delhi had set a goal of planting 3.1 million saplings in 2021-22, and over 3.2 million saplings have been planted so far, the minister said.
Delhi government will now begin soil testing for the plantation drive that will take place next year to determine the quality of the soil in certain areas and what types of plants can thrive there. “We would like to see the current plant survival rate increase further. The department has decided to test the soil quality and, promote plantations in those areas,” Rai said.
Rai said tree plantation was one of the government’s most important campaigns to combat pollution in the Capital. “In 2016-17, we set a goal of planting 1 million saplings, but we ended up planting 2.4 million saplings to improve our green cover. We were assigned a target of 1 million saplings again in 2017-18, and we planted 1.9 million instead. In 2018-19, we set a new goal of 1 million saplings, which we exceeded by planting 1.9 million saplings again. In 2019-20, we set the same target of 1 million saplings, and planted 2.8 million saplings within Delhi. We planted 3.2 lakh seedlings in 2020-21, surpassing the 1.5 million target for that year. We set a goal of planting over 3 million saplings in 2021-22, and as of today, we have planted more than 3.2 million saplings within Delhi,” Rai said.
Rai also said that Delhi ranks first in the country in terms of per capita forest cover. Hyderabad has 8.2 square metres (sqm) per capita forest cover, Bengaluru 7.2sqm, Mumbai 5.4sqm, Chennai 2.1sqm, Ahmedabad 1.2sqm, and Kolkata 0.1sqm , while Delhi leads with 9.6sqm per capita forest cover, Rai said.
Delhi had 20% green cover in 2013, which has risen to 23.06% in 2021, as per the India State of Forest Report 2021. Delhi has about 3% more green cover than the national standard parameters. According to the set standard, the green cover should account for 20% of the total urban area.
Rai underlined the contribution of agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority, municipal corporations, the railways and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited towards making Delhi greener. “The green cover in Delhi is around 3% more than the national standard. This year, we have achieved more than the Central government’s target for plantation, and I am hopeful that all departments will complete the remaining target within the next 15-20 days,” Rai said.
Rai said that the forest department planted 600,000 big and small plants during this year’s plantation drive. Similarly, the Delhi Development Authority, municipal corporations, education departments, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Public Works Department, Central Public Works Department, Delhi Jal Board, the railways, and Delhi Transport Corporation have all finished planting 2 million seedlings. “In addition, the forest department distributed 400,000 seedlings as part of a free distribution programme, and the Park and Garden Society distributed 250,000 saplings. We have also exceeded the Central government’s objective of 3.1 million saplings this year, and we hope that by the end of March, we will have completed the work necessary to meet this goal by planting 100,000 more saplings,” Rai said.
Padmavati Dwivedi, a Delhi-based tree activist, said that while it was very heartening to know about the increase in green cover, she was perplexed at the figures. “I am perplexed at the figures. There is dearth of land for plantation. The Capital is expanding with more land coming under concrete. The only open land are the floodplains. These are not meant for dense tree plantation. There has been no change in the species selected, it’s still exotics and ornamentals on central verges and parks. They do not provide any ecosystem services and many are kept as shrubs. Are all these part of green cover? I hope we are not thumping our chests over incalculable greenwashing,” said Dwivedi.
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