Being the national Capital, the constant evolution of Delhi through rapid urbanisation is quite inevitable. Ironically, while many may grumble about its shrinking greenery; reports, however, suggest that Delhi's green cover has only increased over the years. City dwellers are certainly not complaining, enjoying some of the most exquisite parks in the Capital.
The green cover of the city consists of nearly 20 per cent of its total area of 1,48,639 hectares. The significance of this figure can be realised once the same is compared with other parts of the country. All the major cities in India have less than 15 per cent of their total area under green cover and even this is depleting.
Interestingly, Delhi currently stands among the tops, when it comes to the greenest cities in India. According to the India State of Forest Report-2011, Delhi's green area, including trees outside forests and shrubs, has only doubled over the past decade.
In 2001, the green cover of the Capital was 151 square kilometres and in 2011 it rose to 296.2 square kilometres. During the same time span, Bengaluru lost nearly 270 square kilometres of forests, whereas that of Kolkata has decreased from 8 per cent to a mere 5.5 per cent. Similarly, Hyderabad has only five per cent of forest cover at 391 square kilometres out of the total area of 7,710 square kilometres. Pune also has lost its forest cover drastically by over 40 per cent in just a decade.
The report also states that while forest cover in the country has decreased by 367 square kilometres due to the decline in green area in 14 States, Delhi's forest cover, on the contrary, has gone up by two per cent which is expected to further increase over the next decade.