India: Delhi government to offer free plants at doorstep in bid to promote greenery. Details here

Gopal Rai, the environment minister, announced on Wednesday (April 19), that the Delhi government planned to offer free saplings and pots to residents' doorsteps in order to increase the amount of greenery in the capital.

In an interview, he told PTI that a team is being formed to identify plant species that have a high mortality rate after transplantation and to determine the impact of the soil type and other factors on the relocated trees in an effort to increase their survival rate.

The green cover of Delhi has increased from 21.88 to 23.06 per cent of its geographic area, according to the most recent India State of Forest Report.

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Rai noted, however, that the government is preparing other methods, including urban farming, to increase the amount of greenery.

"The forest department and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are going to launch a pilot project to provide plants and pots free of cost to people at their doorsteps," he said.

"We are conducting a ward-wise survey, asking people what type of plants they want. A survey is underway in one ward in my assembly constituency (Babarpur in northeast Delhi)," he added.

In Delhi, there are roughly 10,000 residences per ward.

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Accordingly, more plans to give people in other places plants and pots would be set up, Rai said, adding "if the project is successful, we will be able to create an alternative green belt."

Small plants are simpler to maintain and use fewer resources than larger ones, say specialists on biodiversity. According to them, this makes smaller plants a more sustainable option for boosting the amount of greenery in particular places.

The environment minister for Delhi claimed that some species have very low survival rates and that some soil types are not suitable for transplanting trees.

Only 33.33 per cent of the 16,461 trees that were transplanted in Delhi over the previous three years have survived, according to data that the forest department submitted to the Delhi High Court in May of last year.

Due to the Delhi government's tree transplantation policy, the affected agencies are required to relocate at least 80 per centof the trees impacted by their development activities. After a year after transplantation, the benchmark tree survival rate is 80 per cent.

As noted by Rai, the Delhi government has successfully reduced air pollution to a significant degree and is currently focusing on a smaller scale, "trying to ascertain which sources are contributing to air pollution under what conditions."

(With inputs from agencies)

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