Delhi gears up to kill the ‘vilayati kikar’, second year in a row

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government, for the second consecutive year, announced its fight against the invasive plant species ‘vilayati kikar’. The kikar, or prosopis juliflora, was brought to Delhi from Mexico by the British more than a century ago. The exotic plant became invasive and wiped out most of the native plants and the animals, which once used to roam in the ridge forests.

“I had announced in the last budget that Delhi will be made kikar-free. A long-term plan for the replacement of vilayati kikar in the central ridge area has been launched, and we expect to make substantial progress in the coming year,” finance minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

Over the past few years, the government had been trying hard to find out ways to eliminate the water-intensive tree species. The government had even allocated ₹50 lakh in its budget in 2017.

CR Babu, who heads the biodiversity parks project of the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems at Delhi University, says the government approached him to make the central ridge kikar-free.

“Species like flame of the forest, khejri, jhilmil, adina, mitragyna and amaltas, which engulf the entire canopy, make sure the kikar doesn’t get sunshine and can’t perform photosynthesis. Eventually they die,” he said.

Sisodia said the forest and tree cover in Delhi increased from 299.77 sq. km in 2015 to 305.41 sq. km in 2017.

New city forests will be developed at Jaunapur, Ayanagar, Dera Mandi, Bela Farm, Garhi Mandu Pocket-a and Alipur, besides a walking trail in Central Ridge.