The Hindu : New Delhi News : A `Green Delhi' too far

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

A `Green Delhi' too far

By Anjali Dhal Samanta

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 21. Far from adding to the Capital's green belt, the Delhi Government's Greening Delhi Action Plan is running behind schedule. While the monsoon -- the most active season for plantation -- is "officially" over as of today, most of the Capital's greening agencies are nowhere close to meeting their targets.

A fact that has caught the attention of the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, who was reportedly upset with the progress of the greening drive by the various agencies.

Till as late as September 15 -- when the monsoon was on its last leg in the Capital -- the Greening Delhi Action Plan had been able to achieve barely a little over 60 per cent of the total target.

Compared to last year when all the greening agencies had managed to plant 3.01 lakhs saplings by the end of July, this year, by the end of July barely 1,53,191 saplings had been planted by all the agencies. While the Forest Department had planted about 9535 saplings, the Delhi Development Authority and Municipal Corporation of Delhi had managed to plant 6,262 and 7,139 saplings respectively. This compared to the 2004-2005 targets of 3.30 lakhs for the Forest Department, 1.68 lakhs for DDA and 1.60 lakhs for the MCD.

Meanwhile in the month of July, the Delhi Cantonment Board, the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation, the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi Transport Corporation had not even kicked off their plantation drives.

With the Greening Delhi Action Plan barely reaching 3.16 lakhs saplings by August 20 -- compared to the total target for 2004-2005 is 12,54000 saplings -- an upset Chief Minister is understood to have pulled up the greening agencies, and has also sent a note to the Forest Department through the Delhi Chief Secretary, S. Reghunathan, asking him to take up the issue. Mr. Reghunathan during a meeting with the various agencies a few days ago has asked the MCD, DDA and the Public Works Department to perform better.

However, within just a matter of a month -- by September 15 -- the various agencies appeared to have been working overtime as the total figure of plantation drives by all agencies reached 8.26 lakhs saplings.

The greening agencies, however, point their fingers at the unpredictable monsoons. While the month of July recorded rain far less than the average level -- Delhi received only 13.8 mm of rainfall compared to the normal of 225.3 mm in July -- according to the Met Department, the Capital managed to make somewhat of a recovery in August. A total of 277.4 mm rainfall was recorded in August as compared to the normal figure of 225.8 mm.

"Usually, we finish our plantation drives by the end of the monsoon when the survival rate is better. So most of the plantations are completed during this period. But this time, because of the low rainfall recorded in July, the plantation drive was a slow start. However, we have time till March 2005 to meet our targets," said an official of the Forest Department.

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