Delhi's green cover up 0.4%

NEW DELHI: Presenting the Outcome Budget of Delhi, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said that Delhi's green cover has increased as Delhi government has taken the initiative to plant 32 lakh trees out of which 5 lakh trees were planted in a single day with the help of a plantation drive. "Delhi's green cover has increased from around 20.2 per cent in 2015 to 20.6 per cent in 2017. The increase has been attributed to plantation and conservation activities undertaken by the government," noted the outcome budget report. It added that out of the target of planting 32.5 lakh trees in 2018-19; 5 lakh were planted in a single day on Mega Plantation Drive in September 2018.

According to the presented report, Delhi has the best Air Quality Monitoring network in India. "With 26 monitoring stations, 12 hotspots in Delhi have been identified to specifically to monitor parameter-wise for pollution control," noted the report.

The total forest and tree cover in the capital increased to 305.4 sq km in 2017 from 299.8 sq km in 2015. The green cover has increased from around 20.2 per cent during 2015 to 20.6 per cent in the two years However, both "very dense" forest cover and "medium dense forest" cover has declined.

"Losing dense forests is not a good sign as it reduces a city's capacity to sequester carbon, as they are the real carbon sinks," the economic survey of Delhi 2018-19 revealed.

According to the report, the very dense forest cover has declined from 6.9 sq km to 6.7 sq km, while the medium dense forest cover has dropped from 57.1 sq km to 56.2 sq km. "Very dense forest cover has more than 70 per cent canopy, medium dense forest cover has a canopy of 40 per cent to 70 per cent. The environment has been of the key focuses of the Delhi government. In the last budget, the government termed it a "green budget" as it was focused on the environment.