New Delhi, July 2 (PTI) Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the city government will launch a 17-day mega plantation drive from July 10 to increase the national capital's green cover and reduce pollution.

Thirty-one lakh plants, trees, and shrubs will be planted under the campaign "Plant Saplings, Save Environment" which will be launched from National Highway 20 near ITO. 

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The plantation drive is expected to increase the city's green cover from 325 square kilometres at present to 350 sq km by 2021, which will help reduce air pollution, Rai said during a virtual press conference, adding the period will be observed as "Vrikshaaropan Pakhavaada".

"Our target is to plant 20 lakh saplings of big trees and 11 lakh saplings of small trees and shrubs. Shrubs will be planted along the roads to reduce dust pollution," the minister said.

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"The Centre has set a target of planting 15 lakh saplings in Delhi. We will plant more than double of that," he said.

Various departments of the Delhi government will plant nearly 18,000 saplings.

The Delhi Development Authority will plant 9.4 lakh saplings and all the MCDs and NDMC will plant two lakh saplings.

As many as 29.37 lakh saplings were planted in Delhi in 2019 against the target of 24.18 lakh.  

In its "Guarantee Card" released before the assembly elections, the AAP government had promised to plant two crore saplings in the city in the next five years.

Rai will inaugurate the drive by planting saplings at the ITO nursery near the Yamuna Bank on July 10.

He said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will participate in the campaign at the nursery on July 13. 

Ministers Kailash Gehlot, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Imran Hussain and Satyendar Jain as well as Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel will also participate in it on July 15, July 17, July 20, July 22 and July 24, respectively. 

All 70 MLAs in Delhi will conclude the plantation drive in their areas on July 26, the minister said.

Rai said the government will get an audit conducted by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, to ascertain the survival rate of the plants. 

The Delhi Forest Department had earlier got an audit conducted by the Agricultural Finance Corporation for the plantation drive carried out during 2013 to 2015. 

The FRI audit will be for 2016, 2017, and 2018, according to the department.

It will help ascertain which varieties of plants, trees and shrubs have the best survival rate in Delhi and which regions in the city are best suited for their growth, it said.  

The audit, which is expected to start in October, will take around four months. The report can be expected by February next year. PTI GVS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)