MCG sets target of planting 500k shrubs, 50,000 saplings this monsoon

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has set a target of planting 500,000 shrubs and 50,000 tree saplings this monsoon, said officials in the know of the matter on Tuesday.

Subhash Yadav, the nodal head of MCG’s environment and sustainability wing, said the civic body has come up with four main strategies to ensure the saplings that are planted this monsoon have a high survival rate and help increase the city’s green cover and check pollution.

Trees and shrubs having a high survival rate in the region will be planted in areas where treated water is readily available and at locations where large tracts of vacant land are available and greenbelts are properly fenced.

“Most parks of the MCG are already connected to mini sewage treatment plants. As water is readily available both within and near parks, we are targeting to plant most of the saplings near them this monsoon. In addition, this year, saplings will be fenced from all sides to ensure they are protected from both animals and any kind of encroachment,” said Yadav.

More than 900 parks fall in the jurisdiction of MCG. Due to space constraint, Yadav said, trees will primarily be planted in large vacant plots, especially in sectors near the Gurugram-Manesar border, which were taken up by the civic body two years ago. Besides this, the MCG will also plant saplings on the medians and along stretches with a high volume of traffic for dust mitigation.

Civic officials said parks, residential and commercial sectors, community centres, water bodies, cremation grounds, drains, urban forests, railway tracks, STPs, schools, and colleges will be some of the sites where shrubs will be planted.

Elaborating on the kind of shrubs to be planted, Yadav said MCG has plans to plant peepal, banyan, amaltas (golden shower tree), neem, gulmohar (royal poinciana), babool (gum arabic tree), and jamun as they have a higher survival rate in this region.

Last year, MCG planted 31,059 tree saplings and 193,523 shrubs while total 105,910 saplings were planted in 2020. Around 40,000 saplings were planted in 2019, the first time the MCG executed a city-wide sapling drive.

Of the 224,582 saplings planted last year, more than 200,000 saplings have survived, said Yadav.

Civic officials said most of the saplings will be procured from the civic body’s four nurseries in Kadipur village, Sector 15- part I, Biodiversity Park near Nathupur village, and Sector 46.

“Gurugram’s forest cover has remained at 9% for the last four years, as per the Forest Survey of India (FSI) report. This shows that the MCG’s plantation drives aren’t having any significant impact. They need to explore other options to increase city’s green cover besides just carrying out plantation drives annually,” said Vaishali Rana, a city-based environmentalist.