Will provide plants for free at people's doorstep to improve Delhi's green cover: Gopal Rai

The Delhi government plans to provide small plants and pots free of cost at peoples doorstep to enhance the green cover in the national capital Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on WednesdayHe told PTI in an interview that a team is being set up to identify plant species that have a high mortality rate after transplantation and to ascertain the impact of soil type and other factors on the translocated trees in a bid to improve their survival rateAccording to the latest India State of Forest Report Delhis green cover has increased from 2188 per cent to 2306 per cent of its geographical areaHowever Rai said the government is planning alternative models such as urban farming to improve the green cover as Delhi will hit the saturation point at some pointAlso Read India surpasses China to become worlds most populous nation shows UN dataThe Forest Department and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are going to launch a pilot project to provide plants and pots free of cost to people at their doorstepsWe are conducting a wardwise survey asking people what type of plants they want I have got the survey conducted in my assembly constituency Babarpur in northeast Delhi If the project becomes successful we will be able to create an alternate green belt he saidAccording to biodiversity experts small plants are easy to maintain and require fewer resources than larger ones This makes smaller plants a more sustainable choice for increasing green cover in certain areas they saidThe Delhi environment minister said a few species have a very poor survival rate and the soil type in some areas does not suit tree transplantationA team is being formed to identify trees that have a dismal survival rate after transplantation The forest department has been directed to ascertain the impact of soil type on the survival rate of the transplanted trees he saidData submitted by the forest department to the Delhi High Court in May last year showed that only 3333 per cent of the 16461 trees transplanted in Delhi over the previous three years have survivedThe Delhi governments tree transplantation policy states that agencies concerned must transplant a minimum of 80 per cent of the trees affected by their development works The benchmark tree survival rate at the end of one year of transplantation is 80 per centRai said the Delhi government has been able to substantially reduce air pollution and is now working at the microlevel trying to ascertain which sources are contributing to air pollution under what conditionsOur action plan to fight air pollution will be based on the inputs provided by the realtime source apportionment study he saidThe Delhi government will launch a 16point action plan to curb pollution in the summer season this monthRai also acknowledged that efforts to curb dust pollution have improved in the national capital region NCR areas of the neighbouring statesSeveral studies show that around 69 per cent of the air pollution in Delhi comes from outside its boundaries Certainly the neighbouring states have had a role in reducing air pollution in the capital but more measures need to be taken he saidRai suggested that Delhis neighbouring states set up a committee to look into the problem of air pollution in the NCR areas as top officials sitting far away from NCR in Lucknow and Chandigarh are unable to feel the urgency to resolve the problemAbout the opposition parties criticism of the Delhi government promoting biodecomposer Rai said changing peoples mindset takes time and effortWe provided a solution to people But to convince them to use it requires serious effort If we have been able to reduce air pollution in Delhi its because we are creating awareness and changing the mindset of people In the case of biodecomposer we not only convinced people but the central government too he saidTo minimise the impact of the burgeoning population of Delhi on the environment Rai said the city government is connecting all houses in unauthorised colonies to the sewer network improving public transport and promoting evehicles and working with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to improve the waste management system and flatten the garbage mountains in Ghazipur Okhla and BhalswaThe government is working to ensure lastmile connectivity through the Mohalla bus service Free bus travel for women is an excellent effort integrating womens safety and the use of public transport he saidRai said the Delhi government is working in tandem with other agencies to improve the condition of roads to curb dust pollutionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever