Sirsa, Harsh Malhotra plant saplings under ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign in Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and BJP Delhi President Harsh Malhotra on Thursday planted tree saplings at PBG Ground under the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign.

Speaking to reporters, Delhi BJP President Harsh Malhotra said that development work had been progressing continuously across every sector since the Chief Minister Rekha Gupta-led BJP government came to power in Delhi.

“After Rekha Gupta’s government and the BJP government came to power in Delhi, work and development have been taking place continuously in every sector. It is all-round, 360-degree development. If I talk about the environment, previous governments only made noise and engaged in a blame game in the name of the environment, but did nothing. However, after Rekha Gupta’s government came to power, our Environment Minister Sirsa, along with the Chief Minister, launched a campaign to plant 70 lakh trees across Delhi,” he said.

Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0’, the second phase of the tree plantation campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was initiated in Delhi under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

“So far, 50 lakh trees and saplings have been planted under this campaign. Of these, 15 lakh trees and saplings have been planted by the Forest Department,” Sirsa said.

Delhi’s ambitious ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ plantation campaign had earlier crossed the halfway mark, with more than 37.99 lakh saplings planted across the national Capital as of August 3. The campaign, which aims to plant 70 lakh saplings, had achieved nearly 54 per cent of its target.

According to the Delhi government’s Delhi Green Warriors progress report, a total of 37,99,583 saplings had been planted, including 17,13,350 trees and 20,86,233 shrubs. On August 3 alone, authorities planted 87,589 saplings.

The campaign was launched on July 7 by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the presence of Rekha Gupta, with simultaneous plantation drives organised at 51 locations across the city.

A major focus of the campaign is the restoration of Delhi’s ridge areas. The government has set a target of planting 28.42 lakh trees and 11.54 lakh shrubs across the Central Ridge, DDA Ridge and Southern Ridge. So far, 2,73,690 saplings have been planted in the Central Ridge, 33,706 in the DDA Ridge and 8,46,968 in the Southern Ridge.

–IANS

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