32 lakh trees to protect Delhi from dust storms

NEW DELHI: To save Delhi from pollution, Delhi’s forest department has planned to make ‘wall’ of trees on the border. This wall will work to save Delhi from dust and pollution coming from neighboring states. Forest department officials said that during the monsoon, there is a plan to plant such plants which will turn into trees in the next few years and work to save Delhi from the dust and pollutants of neighboring states. These trees will work as a kind of natural wall.
Recently, union and state development agencies had told LG that 28 lakh trees would be planted in Delhi, but now this number has been increased to 32 lakhs. The dust coming from Rajasthan by planting plants on the border areas of Delhi can be stopped. An official of the forest department said, “This time our focus is on areas around Asola, Tughlaqabad, Ayonagar, Narela, and Yamuna. We will also grow shrubs along with plants; along with the ridge will be further thickened.
A senior official of the Union Environment Ministry said that many agencies of the Central and Delhi Government have already started work on this scheme. The official said, ‘The natural wall will cover the touching border from Haryana, Rajasthan and Yamuna Forest and Aravali. Its main objective is to prevent particulate matter and dust particles. For this scheme, Pilibhun, Guular, Mango, Mahua and other trees have been selected. Apart from these, peepal, neem, amla, jamun, barhera, and trees will also be planted. The official said that the particles of dust stick to the leaves of these trees and fall on the ground when it rains.
The forest department said that the planting of trees on the border would be completed in a year and it has been started in July. This work will be done by DDA, CPD, DMRC, Northern Railway, PWD Department of Delhi Government and several Municipal Corporations. Most trees will plant DDA (10 lakh) while the second is Forest Department which will work to install 4.22 lakh trees. Survival audits of these pests will be done after 2 years and accordingly, the direction ahead will be decided. The work of the Survival Audit will be done by the Forest Research Institute of Dehradun in March 2019 and its report will be submitted by March 2020.