New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Friday joined senior government officials in a plantation drive at the Ridge and said 15 lakh trees and saplings are being planted across the Ridge and other identified green areas.
He reiterated the government’s target of planting 70 lakh trees and saplings across the national capital this year.
Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma, along with senior officials of the Delhi government, participated in the plantation drive held at the PBG Ground under the government’s ongoing green campaign.
Addressing the gathering, Sirsa said the campaign is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” initiative and aims to expand Delhi’s green cover through large-scale public participation.
He said 15 lakh trees and saplings are being planted across the Ridge and other identified green areas as part of a comprehensive eco-restoration programme.
The minister said every sapling planted under the campaign is being geo-tagged to enable scientific monitoring and ensure its long-term survival.
“The objective is not merely to increase plantation numbers but to create a sustainable green legacy for future generations,” he said.
Sirsa said the Delhi government has prepared a 10-year plantation strategy focused on increasing the capital’s green cover through native species that require less water, provide greater shade, generate more oxygen and help reduce pollution.
He said the plantation drive has drawn participation from members of the judiciary, government officials, diplomats from over 70 countries, educational institutions, religious organisations and citizen groups, reflecting the government’s effort to make environmental conservation a people’s movement.
Highlighting the government’s parallel drive to eliminate Delhi’s legacy waste, Sirsa claimed that nearly 60 per cent of the city’s garbage mountains have been cleared over the last one-and-a-half years.
He said the reclaimed land is being converted into green spaces through plantation and ecological restoration, adding that the twin initiatives of waste remediation and large-scale plantation are aimed at building a cleaner, greener and healthier capital. PTI SGV PRK
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