VP Dhankhar takes part in tree-plantation drive organised by DDA

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday led a tree-plantation drive at the Asita ecological park along the Yamuna river here as part of a campaign that aims at increasing green cover and enriching the ecology, officials said.

The drive was organised by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the “Ek Ped Ma ke Naam” campaign, they said.

The Raj Niwas officials said 1,11,111 saplings were planted on Saturday in various parks and green belts of Delhi by DDA and other agencies, students, resident welfare associations and citizens.

Dhankhar planted a sapling in the honour of his mother Kesari Devi at Asita, which is on the eastern floodplains of the Yamuna and opposite the ITO.

He planted a sapling of the Tabebuia Rosea (rosy trumpet) — a flowering tree species. His wife Sudesh Dhankhar also planted a sapling in the honour of her mother Bhagvati Devi, the officials said.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Justice Prakash Shrivastava also planted saplings in the honour of their mothers Vedwati Saxena and Kamla Srivastava, respectively, at the venue, they said.

The saplings planted on Saturday at Asita included those of Jamun, Gular, Tabebuia, Arjun, Shisham, Guava, Largestroemia and Jacaranda, the officials said.

At Asita, Vice President Dhankhar interacted with more than 250 schoolchildren who were part of the plantation drive and administered them a pledge that they would urge their family members to plant trees for a greener and sustainable Delhi, they said.

Dhankhar appealed to people for making the campaign a success and said tree-plantation was the easiest, yet the most effective way of protecting the environment, according to the officials.

He said he as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has also urged every MP to plant at least 200 trees, as their contribution to protect nature, the officials stated.

On the World Environment Day this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the ‘Ek Ped Maa ke Naam’ campaign, with an aim to increase green cover and protect the environment, the officials said.

The vice president took a tour of the Asita park along its wetlands and grasslands, and appreciated the DDA’s efforts for restoring this stretch of the Yamuna floodplain into a bio-diversity park, which two years ago was a polluted and degraded land under heavy encroachment, the officials said.

During a nature walk, Dhankhar was explained at length the scientific process of ecological succession used for restoration of the Yamuna floodplains at asita and several other locations in Delhi, they said.