Delhi’s lush green landscape, particularly those surrounding the River Yamuna, will resplend with the swaths of pink and white Cherry Blossom and the hues of amber, red and yellow Chinar leaves, like never before.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Sunday planted 300 saplings (150 saplings each) of Cherry Blossom and Chinar between Qudasia ghat and ITO Barrage on the three islands in the Yamuna.
Cherry Blossom and Chinar, being planted for the first time in the national capital. Lt Governor also inspected the ongoing Yamuna cleaning operations and expressed satisfaction over the progress of the works and lauded religious leaders for extending their support to rejuvenate the river Yamuna.
Apart from Cherry Blossom and Chinar, over 1400 saplings of other floral species that include Kachnar, Weeping Willow, Semal, Bottle Brush, Bougainvillea and Kaner, were also planted on Yamuna islands.
“In all, 1733 saplings were planted on the three islands in presence of Saxena. The Chinar and Cherry Blossom saplings have been planted at the highest points on each of the three islands with three meters of space between the two saplings.
The other floral species have been planted in grid formation in the remaining areas of the islands,” reads a statement issued by Raj Niwas.
Cherry Blossom, also known as Japanese Cherry, is a deciduous tree that has been adapted at several places in India like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Shimla and Shillong among others.
Similarly, Chinar is also a deciduous tree known for the peculiar shape and color of its leaves. Chinar trees can produce up to 300-400 KG of leaves per year. In India, Chinar trees are mostly found in Jamuu & Kashmir.
It is for the first time that an effort has been made to introduce Chinar and Cherry Blossom in Delhi.
The initiative is also aligned with the LG’s vision of making Delhi a City of Flowers, for which he has been personally monitoring the progress of works and coordinating with multiple agencies.
Officials informed Lt Governor that the Chinar and Cherry Blossom saplings were first kept under controlled atmosphere in nurseries for a month to let them acclimatize to Delhi’s weather. Thereafter, the saplings were planted on Yamuna islands.
After this, L-G instructed the officials to deploy personnel of Territorial Army to protect these islands from any encroachment, while the Forest Department will take care of the plants. Seeds of a variety of flowering shrubs like marigold, cosmos and others were also sown along the river banks that will create a flower bed along the edges of the river.
Over the next three days, seeds will be sown along both the banks of Yamuna using drones and in the next 2-3 weeks these flowing plants will grow.
A large number of riverine grasses have also been planted to prevent the islands from erosion.
On this occasion, LG also inspected the ongoing Yamuna cleaning operations and expressed satisfaction over the progress of the works. He appreciated the efforts of the agencies and the workers involved in Yamuna cleaning.
This was Saxena’s 13th visit to Yamuna in less than 12 months of his tenure after assuming the charge of the Raj Niwas.
Saxena also lauded the religious leaders/institutions for extending their whole-hearted support to Yamuna cleaning and said very soon, industries and its leaders will be brought on board for Yamuna cleaning.
Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Environment and Forest Department, GNCTD, Vice Chairman, DDA, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, GNCTD and senior officials of DDA and other stakeholder agencies were present on the occasion.