Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said that the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, has completed an audit of plantation work conducted by the Delhi Forest Department from 2016 to 2019 and a report will be submitted by July.
The Minister directed officials to complete the ongoing third party audit of plantation works and submit the report at the earliest to ensure transparency.
"The Department of Forest and Wildlife has been pursuing this issue with all the greening agencies in the State. A few agencies have conducted third-party audits for the survival of plantations in the earlier years. For instance, the NDMC (2016-17 and 2017-18), the DDA (2018-19), the PWD (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19) and the Department of Forest (2009-10 to 2015-16)," the statement said.
"I have ordered a strict independent third-party audit of the plantation work across Delhi. Various organisations and institutions are working on it," a statement quoted the Minister as saying.
Of the 18 greening agencies involved in yearly plantation drives, the forest department and the DDA plant the maximum number of saplings and shrubs.
The Government has set a target of planting 33 lakh saplings this financial year. It expects to increase the city's green cover to about 350 sq km this year from 325 sq km in 2019.
Addressing the media, Rai said that the audit is being conducted by the Forest and Wildlife Department of the Delhi Government.
“An independent audit of Delhi's plantation works is being done by the Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and the Certification Engineers International Limited.
Currently other green agencies including the DMRC, the NDMC, the DUSIB, the DDA, Delhi Cantonment, the DJB, the EDMC, the PWD, North and South corporations are conducting independent audit of plantation,” he said.
The Minister further said that the Government is serious about monitoring and transparency of the plantation work. The Delhi Forest Department had earlier got an audit conducted by the Agricultural Finance Corporation for the plantation drive carried out during 2013 to 2015. Various Government agencies planted 32 lakh saplings in the financial year 2020-21. Of this, the Forest Department planted around 5.5 lakh saplings.