DDA to plant 4 lakh indigenous trees as part of plantation drive

As part of an afforestation drive of DDA, four lakh indigenous trees will be planted this year across various biodiversity parks and other green belts in Delhi, officials said.

Neem, amaltas, gulmohar and other species which are native to this region will be planted, they said.

"This year the DDA is going to plant four lakh local or indigenous tree species like, neem, peepal, bargad, gulmohar, amaltas, pilkhan, kachnar, jamun, sheesham, arjun, belpatra, which are native to this region, and found in and around Delhi," a senior DDA official said.

The plantation drive was launched recently, with planting of trees at a parknear Commonwealth Games Village and a park at Vasant Kunj, in association with local RWAs.

"The planting will be taken up in DDA's parks, biodiversity parks, green belts, roadsides, yamuna flood plains and other places by involving local resident welfare associations (RWAs), other organisations and eco-clubs of various schools," the DDA said.

The involvement of school children in the plantation drive will create awareness and sensitise students about the importance of trees and their role in environment conservation, the official said.

"Each eco-club will be supplied a maximum of 500 seedlings for planting per year, through students of class 6 and above. Students will maintain planted trees or plants for next 4-5 years till they pass out of school," the DDA said.

There is a provision, wherein students can adopt any tree or plant and can place their name plaque on the adopted plant, it said.

"Initially, the DDA will prepare the site for planting by doing all operations, then planting will be carried out by eco-clubs. Each eco-club will be given Rs 25,000 per year for procurement of gardening tools, compost etc., cost of transportation and maintenance of plants," the DDA said.

Each eco-club will sign a memorandum of understanding with DDA for this purpose The schools which do not have eco-clubs can also get associated with this scheme," the urban body said.

Similarly, DDA also proposes to involve all registered RWAs and other interested persons and organizations in its plantation drive in parks adjoining the RWAs or such organisations.

"In the first year, it is proposed to involve 200 eco-clubs of various schools of Delhi in this scheme. Each eco-club will maintain a register regarding the plantation carried out, and record survival percentage annually," the official said.

In this regard, the DDA has addressed all schools having eco-clubs to contact DDA's nodal officer to get associated with the plantation drive by selecting the site in vicinity of their schools, he said.