Kejriwal government will increase the green area of ​​Delhi, Van Mahotsav will start from July 9

Delhi News: An important meeting was held at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday (July 06) under the chairmanship of Environment and Forest Minister Gopal Rai to promote tree plantation in Delhi. During the meeting, to promote green cover in Delhi, it was decided to start Van Mahotsav from 9th July at IARI Pusa and its closing ceremony will be held at Chhatrasal Stadium on 20th August.

An online portal will be started in the Van Mahotsav program from where the people of Delhi will be able to book plants for free. This great campaign will be celebrated in different Lok Sabhas of Delhi. Along with this, the work of distribution of free medicinal plants will also be done during this Van Mahotsav.

What did Gopal Rai say?

During the press conference held at Delhi Secretariat after the meeting, Environment and Forest Minister Gopal Rai said that pollution inside Delhi is always present as a big challenge. After the formation of our government, under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, continuous work has been done to reduce the pollution level of Delhi. As a result of all those measures, a continuous decline is being recorded in the level of pollution inside Delhi and a considerable increase in green cover has been seen inside Delhi.

He further said that in Delhi, where the green area was 20 percent in the year 2013, it has increased to 23.06 percent in the year 2021 due to the efforts of the Kejriwal government. Also, Delhi has become number one in the whole country in terms of per capita forest cover of cities.

He further says that moving forward in this direction, Van Mahotsav will be started from IARI Pusa from 9th July to speed up the tree plantation campaign included in the 14 points of the Summer Action Plan.

Giving information, Gopal Rai said that this year, from July 9 to August 20, the Delhi government will celebrate Van Mahotsav with the whole of Delhi by planting trees and distributing saplings in different Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi on every Sunday. Members of Delhi’s RWA and children and teachers of Eco Clubs will also be present during this programme.

The program of Van Mahotsav is as follows-

1. July 9 – IARI, Pusa (New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency)

2. July 16 – Garhi Mandu (North East Delhi)

3. July 23 – Rewla Khanpur (West Delhi)

4. July 30 – Bhati Mines, Gate No. 7 (South Delhi)

5. August 6 – Delhi University Polo Ground (Chandni Chowk)

6. August 13 – NH 24, near Yamuna Bank Metro Station (East Delhi)

7. August 20 – Chhatrasal Stadium (North West Delhi)

Gopal Rai told that every year tree plantation campaign is being conducted to increase the green belt of Delhi and to reduce the pollution of Delhi. In the second term of the Kejriwal government i.e. from the year 2020, since the formation of the government till 2022-23, 1 crore 18 lakh saplings have been planted. Every year the central government gives a target of tree plantation to all the states.

He says that in the important guarantee given to the people of Delhi at the time of elections, a target has been set to plant two crore saplings in 5 years to improve the environment of Delhi, but by planting 52 lakh saplings this year, the government failed to complete its tenure. In the fourth year, it will be able to achieve the target of planting about 1 crore 70 lakh saplings. This target will be accomplished by the green agencies of all the 21 concerned departments. Apart from this, NDMC will plant about 50 lakh saplings/shrubs.

Portal will also start

Environment and Forests Minister Gopal Rai said that an online portal will also be started in the Vanmahotsav program for distribution of saplings, from where Delhiites will be able to book saplings free of cost. Through this online portal the applicant will be required to click a selfie with the booked plant and upload it on the portal. Through which the departments will be able to keep information about the real time data of the plants distributed.