Delhi government aims at establishing 42 Eco-forests
India & You
Witnessing the amount of decrease in the green cover all over the country, the Delhi government vowed to increase the city’s green cover by 5 pc in the next 5 years
Aiming to increase green cover area in the Indian capital, the Delhi government is working on the development of 42 city forests in the city.
After India lost a lot of original forest areas in the last 10 years, Delhi government has been knuckling down to increase the green cover in the capital of India.
This year, the forest authorities planted more than 1,500 saplings under the Van Mahotsav initiative including Banyan, Neem, Aloe Vera, Tulsi (Holy Basil), Brahmi (Waterhyssop) and Lemongrass, among other species.
Van Mahotsav is an annual tree-planting festival in India that was initiated in 1950 by the then Indian Union Minister for Agriculture, Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi.
Witnessing the amount of decrease in the green cover all over the country, the Delhi government vowed to increase the city’s green cover by 5 pc in the next 5 years by aiming to establish nearly 20 city forests in the capital by the end of 2016.
Eco-huts for visitors
Under the plan, the authorities will develop in total 42 city forests in Delhi and to inaugurate the drive, two Eco-huts were introduced.
The development kicked off with Mitraon city forest in Najafgarh (West Delhi) on August 17, 2016. The village that is among 26 protected forests in the capital and spreads over 105 acres, was nicely reformed into a city forest in a month by the forest and wildlife department.
The government aims to preserve and promote it as an ecological hotspot, with the addition of a butterfly garden, water bodies, medicinal plant gardens, Yoga and meditation centre, jogging tracks and Eco-huts for visitors, which are expected to be completed by the end of 2016.
Other city forests will be later developed in Garhi village in South Delhi and Jona Pur and Rewla Khanpur in South West Delhi.
With the government getting on the beam to develop sustainable ecology in the city, there is a hope to get back at least half of what the city has lost.
