Ministry of Environment and Forests
“Afforestation/Tree plantation targets in the country under Item No.51 (a) (Area Covered under Public and Forest Lands) and 51 (b) (No. of Seedlings Planted) of Twenty Point Programme(TPP) is fixed by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) annually, in consultation with States/UTs including Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD). As per information received from GNCTD, these Plantation targets are further allotted to Greening Agencies in Delhi. The progress of the same are collectively reported to this ministry and to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) which is compiling achievements collectively under TPP. As reported by MoSPI, the achievements for number of seedlings planted during last three years (2014-15 to 2016-17) by Delhi are as under:
States/UTs also set their own plantation targets, in addition to the plantation targets fixed under TPP by MoEF&CC. As stated by GNCT of Delhi, as per the policy of the Delhi Govt., the forest department allots a target of 1.00 million saplings approximately to Greening Agencies each year to make Delhi green which includes the targets given by MoEF&CC under TPP. As stated by GNCT of Delhi, 28.11 lakhs saplings including the target fixed by MoEF&CC and Delhi Govt. has been achieved during last three years.
As per the reports, the plantation targets fixed by MoEF&CC, have been achieved fully. However, as stated by Delhi Government, some greening agencies like Airport Authority of India, BSES, Delhi Cantonment Board, PWD have either not reported the achievement of plantation targets allotted to them which is over and above the targets fixed by MoEF&CC or reported less achievements. Such lesser achievement of targets is given to the concerned greening agency as backlog to be completed in the next year.
The National Forest Policy, 1988 envisages a target of 33% of Forest and Tree Cover (FTC) of the total geographical area of the country for ensuring environmental stability. The Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun assesses the FTC of the country at the interval of two years. The total green cover (FTC) of Delhi, as per ISFR, 2015, is 20.22% to state’s geographical area, which has shown a net increase of about 1.96 sq. km. as compared to the previous assessment of ISFR, 2013. Moreover, despite severe pressure on land resources for developmental activities to cater to the needs of ever increasing population of Delhi, being the national capital of India the total green cover of Delhi has increased from 5.93% in the year 1999 to 20.22% to the total geographical area of NCT Delhi in 2015.”
This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, in reply to a written question in Lok Sabha yesterday.
Cover Image Source, India Today.
