Sapling plantation to curb pollution in winters

New Delhi: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai launched phase two of a sapling plantation drive in the city on Monday as part of efforts to reduce pollution during the winters and said the increase in green cover has improved the national capital’s air quality over the last eight years.

The second phase of the plantation drive began at Garhi Mandu in northeast Delhi.

“We had set a target of planting 52 lakh saplings, including shrubs, this fiscal. We have already planted 40 lakh as part of our action plan to reduce pollution during the summer season. Now, we are commencing phase two of the plantation drive, during which the remaining 12 lakh saplings will be planted in the winter season,” Rai told reporters.

He expressed happiness over the New Delhi Municipal Council’s campaign to plant 50 lakh saplings, saying it will help increase green cover in the city. The minister highlighted that Delhi’s green cover has increased from 20 per cent to 23 per cent during the AAP government’s tenure, leading to an improvement in air quality.

Delhi has recorded 200 days of “good to moderate” air quality this year so far, a first since 2015 excluding 2020 which saw a strict lockdown due to Covid-19, he said.

According to the Centre’s Commission for Air Quality Management, the number of “good to moderate” air quality days during the corresponding period in 2022, 2021 and 2019 stood at 154, 183 and 174 respectively. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

Ahead of Purvanchali festival Chhath, Delhi BJP leaders visited Yamuna near Kalindi Kunj on Monday, and said that the Supreme Court should take suo moto cognisance of the heavy pollution in the river.

The BJP leaders also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi, saying Yamuna water was unfit for human use.

The president of Delhi BJP, Virendra Sachdeva, questioned how Purvanchali people will celebrate Chhath next month with such levels of pollution in Yamuna.