Is sowing seeds through helicopters possible, Delhi HC asks forest department

In order to find a long term solution to the air pollution in the national capital, the Delhi High Court on Monday inquired whether darts can be thrown from helicopters to sow seeds in inaccessible forest areas in the city.

The division bench of Justices GS Sistani and Anup Jairam Bambani asked, "Have you thought of throwing darts from helicopters in order to sow seeds in areas which are generally inaccessible?"

Meanwhile, the Delhi government's forest department told the court that they were not able to plant more trees due to encroachments in the forest areas. The department assured the court that it will work on removing encroachment in the southern ridge of the city.

The Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Government to prepare an action plan for removing encroachment in forest areas and submit it before Special Task Force, dealing with encroachment issues in the national capital. The Special Task Force is working under the provisions of the Supreme Court.

The court said that removing encroachment from forest areas will give space to plant more trees and restore forest areas and it will provide a long term solution to reduce air pollution.

The bench also directed all the local bodies to file an affidavit mentioning how much dust has been removed by them so far and listed the matter for further hearing on Thursday.

The Chief Conservator of Forest told the High Court that the plantation can be carried out only between February 15 to October 15 as before that the mortality rate would be high.

Thereafter the court directed the concerned authorities to utilize the time period between October 15 to February 15 towards the maintenance of plants and other issues to control air pollution in the national capital.

The authorities informed the court that green cover is 21 per cent in Delhi, which is highest in any city and they are planning to increase it to 25 per cent till 2025.

In the last 17 years, green cover increased from 10 per cent to 21 per cent.