Environment and Development Minister Gopal Rai distributes free saplings by organizing Vikas Sabha in Shalimar Bagh Assembly

NEW DELHI, July 23 , 2024- The Kejriwal government organized a Vikas Sabha in Shalimar Bagh Assembly today to involve the public in development works. On this occasion, Delhi’s Environment and Development Minister Gopal Rai said that through the Sabha, the people of the villages get information about the development work. Also, public participation is necessary in the development process, which gives impetus to the development work.

He said the government is committed to provide all facilities to the people living in rural areas. Development work is being done in the villages of Shalimar Bagh Vidhan Sabha with a budget of about Rs 4 crore. The government has kept a budget of Rs 900 crore for the development related works of Delhi’s villages. On this occasion, Shalimar Bagh Vidhan Sabha MLA Bandana Kumari and officials of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department and Forest Department were also present.

Development Minister Gopal Rai stated, “To ensure development in the villages of Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had constituted Delhi Gram Vikas Board. This year, the government has kept a budget of Rs 900 crore for the development of Delhi’s villages, under which work is being done to provide better amenities in all the villages of Delhi. Under this, development work related to roads, drains, water bodies, community centres, parks, crematoriums, playgrounds etc. is being done. Development work is being done in the villages of Shalimar Bagh Vidhan Sabha with about Rs 4 crore. This Vikas Sabha has been organized to involve the public in development works.”

He continued, “To promote green cover in Delhi, a campaign of tree plantation and distribution of saplings has started from July 11. Along with development, environmental protection is also important. That is why our government has started a plantation and sapling distribution campaign in all the Vidhan Sabhas on the theme “Jahan Vikas Wahan Hariyali”. Under this, saplings were distributed among the people in Shalimar Bagh Vidhan Sabha during the Vikas Sabha. This year, more than 7.74 lakh saplings will be distributed free of cost.”

Gopal Rai further said that under the plantation campaign, a target of planting/distributing more than 64 lakh saplings has been set this year, which will be accomplished with the cooperation of all green agencies. During the tree plantation campaign, the work of distributing medicinal plants free of cost has been started. Medicinal plants are being distributed free of cost from the government nurseries of Delhi so that people can participate in increasing the green cover of Delhi by planting saplings in their homes.

The environment minister said, “We had given an important guarantee to the people of Delhi at the time of elections (in 2020), in which we had set a target of planting two crore trees in 5 years to improve the environment of Delhi. The government has achieved the target of planting almost 2 crore trees in the fourth year of its office. This target has been achieved by the green agencies of all 21 departments concerned. The government is running a tree plantation campaign every year to increase the green belt of Delhi and reduce pollution in Delhi due to which a significant increase in the green cover has been seen in Delhi. While the green cover in Delhi was 20% in the year 2013, due to the efforts of the Kejriwal government, it increased to 23.06% in the year 2021. Also, Delhi has become number one in the whole country in terms of per capita forest cover of cities,” he concluded.