The Delhi government will start the second phase of its plantation drive from October 15 that will focus on planting saplings in the Yamuna floodplains, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, he said the government had set a target of planting 35 lakh saplings this year, and more than 33 lakh of them have already been planted. "So, we have decided to raise the target to 42 lakh. This is the first time the plantation target is being increased," he said.
The second phase will continue till the end of March. The focus will be on planting saplings in the Yamuna floodplains, he said. "An audit of plantation drives showed a poor survival rate of saplings planted before or during the monsoon season in the Yamuna floodplains. These saplings die due to floods.
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"So, we decided to change our strategy. We did not plant any saplings in the floodplains in the monsoon season. It will be taken up from October 15 now," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
