Green capital

The state forests department has pulled off a significant achievement by increasing Delhi’s forest cover ten fold in the past 16 years.

Delhi’s green cover has increased from 2 per cent to more than 20 per cent in the last 10 years,” Shiela Dixit had announced this Tuesday, addressing a Business Standard function. It is a striking achievement, especially since Delhi is the country’s second-largest metropolis by area and third-largest by population, and has seen several large-scale infrastructure projects in recent years — even though the chief minister was not exactly right about the time frame. It was in 16 years, from 1993 to 2009, that Delhi’s green cover had jumped from 22 sq km to 299.58 sq km, that is, from 1.48 per cent of its geographical area to 20.20 per cent — a ten-fold jump.

No wonder Delhi has the distinction of being among the greenest capitals in the world, and despite its urban sprawl, is home to as many as 430 bird species.

How did this come about?
“The main reasons for the increase in forest cover...is new plantation,” says the State of Forest Report, 2009. Of these, Bhatti Mines is the showpiece of successful afforestation and eco-restoration, primarily through the efforts of the 132 Infantry Battalion (Territorial Army) — the Eco Rajputs. In the last 10 years, the Eco Rajputs have planted 1.1 million saplings in the abandoned mines spread over 2,100 acres in the south of the state.

Densification of the forest cover in The Ridge, described as the lungs of the city, is a more recent initiative, as are the plantations along the national highways, and important junctions such as ITO Chungi, which were undertaken in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, and around 175 water bodies in the national capital region.

There is, of course, far more that can be done. “There is potential to plant along 40 km of the riverfront,” says a senior official of the state government’s forests and wild-life division. “But it is all in the hands of the Delhi Development Authority.”

The government has also created a Bambusetam, an area dedicated to various bamboo species, at Garhi Mandu. Damaged by intense flooding in the last two years, it had 27 species of bamboos including the Black Bamboo, Giganticus and Guadua. The plan now is to shift it to a 10-acre site in Asola.

But it is the policy of “compensatory afforestation” that has yielded the most results. A provision that goes back to the Delhi Preservation of Tree Act, 1994, and later strengthened by a state cabinet decision of 2010, it entails the plantation of 10 trees for every one tree that is felled. Under the scheme, five of these 10 trees are planted by the forests department and five by the person/institution which felled the tree. In addition, the latter deposits Rs 28,000 for every tree felled, half of which is refunded at the end of five years if the plantations are found healthy and thriving. Under this scheme, forests have been planted on behalf of large infrastructure companies. For instance, for Delhi Metro, the forests department has planted trees on more than 250 hectares in Kakrola, Issapur, Mungeshpur, Rewla Khanpur, Najafgarh Drain, Rajokri, Aya Nagar, Hindon Cut and many other sites since 2004.

Similarly, for the Delhi Airport, Bus Rapid Transport system, National Highway Authority, Indian Oil Corporation, etc.

Not everyone is convinced, of course. “Compensatory afforestation,” says Pradip Krishen, environmentalist and author of Trees of Delhi, “is a whole lot of bull. Lovely old-growth trees are cut down, and someone plants 10 trees in their place. More often than not, what’s planted is a weedy tree of no ecological value whatsoever, chosen because it’s not browsed by cattle or goats. The people who plant it feed their efforts into the system — so many trees planted, etc. But within a few months at most, they stop looking after these trees. What do you think happens? In most cases — and partly because the choice of species is wrong to begin with — the trees die.”