Green cover in Delhi increased in last three years: Delhi govt

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Thursday claimed that the green cover of Delhi has increased in the last four years. However, the CAG report has claimed that the green cover in Delhi has decreased over the years. The AAP also alleged that earlier Congress and now BJP is responsible for cutting trees in Delhi.

"The whole project of redevelopment was planned by Congress govt at the Centre which is now being repackaged by PM Modi as a smart city plan. This project was introduced by the Congress Central govt by the then Minister of MOUD Ajay Maken," said AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj. He added that the Central government is working on a project against which Aman Lekhi, husband of BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, had filed a petition in the High Court in 2014 by claiming that it will be extremely harmful to Del- hi's environment. "Another petition was filed by Rajiv Suri in the NGT which also mentioned the drawbacks of the project but the NGT straight away dismissed both the petitions by saying that the Environment Clearance was approved in 2012 and the limitation period for taking any legal scrutiny has expired," said Bharadwaj.

The AAP leader also said that as mentioned in section 11(a) of DDA, any master plan and zonal development plan modifications can be executed by DDA. The Central Government claimed that the work of redevelopment is for the residential use only but the brochures prove that the redevelopment is done for commercial propose. "The residential land in Delhi is being used for commercial purpose," he said.

In response to this, BJP MLA and leader of the opposition Vijender Gupta said, "AAP has not only lied to the public, it failed to ensure com- pensatory plantation before felling of trees. AAP minister is answerable for dereliction of duty and must face consequences for failing to do his duty." He added that Delhi Govt paid about Rs 23 crore for raising and maintenance of plantation for 7 years till its successful establishment. The land was allotted by DDA. However, it failed to carry out plantation of 39,950 trees at Narouji Nagar and Netaji Nagar.

The opposition Congress also said that the AAP is lying about the facts. Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the BJP and the AAP government in the capital for cutting down thousands of trees in the past four years, calling it "madness".

"In Delhi, the BJP with AAP'S approval has hacked down thousands of trees in the past 4 yrs for 'development'. Even children know that trees are critical to our survival and difficult to replace," said Gandhi on Twitter.