Agencies yet to do third party audits of plantations held in previous years to check survival rate

At least 18 of the 20 afforestation agencies that carry out plantation drives every monsoon are yet to submit third-party audits of the drives held from 2016 to 2018 to the forest department, which is the nodal agency for all plantation activities in the national capital, officials said.

Third-party audits of plantation is needed to assess the survival rate of saplings and the exercise was made mandatory for all greening agencies last year by then Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain, who had asked agencies to submit audit reports to the state forest department for the years from 2016 to 2018.

Among the 20 agencies that carry out large-scale plantations are the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the three municipal corporations, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the public works department (PWD). The other agencies include the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Northern Railways and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), among others.

“We have written to all agencies to submit a status report of their third-party audit. We haven’t received a single report so far. We have written to the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, to carry out an audit for the plantation done by our different divisions for the same period. They are expected to send a team for the audit post-monsoon,” a senior official from the forest department said.

The NDMC and the DDA are the only two agencies which have got the audits conducted so far.

“We have been getting a third-party audit done since 2015. We are yet to approach an agency for the audit of the year 2018-19. The survival rate of our plantation was 65.83% in 2017-18; 73.5% in 2016-17; and 61.88% in 2015-16,” S Chellaiah, director, horticulture, NDMC, said.

DDA officials said they got the audit done for the year 2018-19 by FRI, Dehradun. “The survival rate of the plantation for the year stands at 80%-95%. The institute also suggested some measures to address sapling growth issues, which we will implement in this year’s plantation drive. The 86-page report was submitted to lieutenant-governor (who also heads the DDA). We have written to the FRI to carry out the audit for 2019-20 as well,” DDA’s director (horticulture) Ashok Kumar said.

A senior PWD official said they have sent a request for the audit to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa. “We have written to them and the IARI has agreed in-principle. The audit will be done this year,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Officials at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) also said they have approached an agency to get the audit done. “We have approached an agency, but the corporation is already under financial duress. The government must fix an agency for the audit,” a senior SDMC official, who did not wish to be named, said.

The East Corporation too said that it has approached IARI, Pusa, for the audit and the modalities are being discussed.

A senior North corporation official said they have approached the FRI, Dehradun, for the audit. “There are some financial problems because of Covid-19, but we are trying to collaborate FRI in this matter,” the official said.

This year, the Delhi government has set a target of planting 3.1 million saplings. Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai had said that they have roped in FRI, Dehradun, to conduct third-party audit for the year 2019-20.

According to experts, third-party evaluation is important to ascertain the survival rate as well as fix accountability.

C R Babu, professor emeritus at the Centre for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Delhi University, said, “Third-party evaluation is useful to assess the survival rate, know the drawbacks where growth is not up to the mark and implement strategies to improve the efforts in the following years. Massive plantation drives are undertaken every year and hence it’s important to know how many of the saplings survived and fix accountability of various agencies. It is crucial for the sustained growth of saplings, which is ultimately needed for increasing the city’s green cover.”