Aiming to achieve the Delhi government’s tree plantation target for 2016 in one day, the Capital’s municipal corporations are planning to hold a massive plantation drive on August 28.
In June, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that 10 lakh new trees and five lakh saplings of medicinal and herbal plants would be planted this year.
The BJP-ruled civic bodies have planned a city-wide drive to plant 10 lakh saplings on August 28, leaders of the municipal corporations said on Friday.
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Vijay Prakash Pandey, Leader of the House in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that the three corporations would plant the saplings with the help of residents welfare associations, NGOs, school students and the public. “It will be a public movement. The aim is to plant 4,000 saplings in each ward,” said Mr. Pandey.
Drive on August 28
The BJP leader said that the civic body would use plants from its own nurseries, ask businesses to donate some plants through corporate social responsibility initiatives and even buy certain varieties.
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He said the drive would cover all those areas that are in need of plantation, irrespective of the civic bodies’ jurisdiction.
Preparations for the drive will be made on August 27 and some Union Ministers will also be invited to participate on August 28, which would be an “environment day” for the corporations, said Subhash Arya, Leader of the House in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
An SDMC Horticulture Department official said that a combination of shade-providing trees, medicinal plants and shrubs will be planted.