On 9th October 2020, the Cabinet approved the “Tree Transplantation Policy” of Delhi Government. The policy makes it obligatory to transplant 80% of the trees that are being felled for a development project. The Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal has declared that the government will make the payment to the transplantation agency only if 80% of the transplanted trees survive. Also, the policy states that an additional 10 saplings must be planted as a compensatory plantation.
Delhi govt has passed a tree transplantation policy, under which 80% of trees uprooted for any construction/development project, must be transplanted elsewhere. Payment will be made to the transplantation agency only if 80% of transplanted trees survive: Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM pic.twitter.com/cS9vHgObVR
— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2020
Key Features
- The “Tree Transplantation Policy” of Delhi Government is first of its kind in India.
- The policy does not apply where 10 or fewer trees are felled for a development project.
- Under the policy, the invasive species are omitted from the list of species to be transplanted.
- To address the challenge of survival rate of transplanted tree, National level Agencies are to be appointed by the government as a part of an expert panel.
- The cost of transplanting a tree is around 50000 to 1 lakh rupees.
Before this policy, for every tree cut, a compensatory plantation of 10 tree saplings was mandatory. However, this process takes several years to replace the trees felled. Therefore, the Tree Transplantation Policy has been introduced by Delhi Government.
Tree Transplantation Cell
Delhi Government will set up a tree transplantation cell. A panel has been formed from the expertise tree transplantation agencies. The panel will also have members from the civil societies and the forest department, which will continuously monitor and audit the transplanted trees.
The Delhi CM has also announced that local committees along with RWA members and residents will monitor transplanted trees.
Challenges Ahead
- Planting a tree at the right depth is the major challenge in tree transplantation. A three times wider planting hole than the roots or rootball is required.
- Tree Transplantation is best to be carried out in Spring season, it cannot be carried out in all seasons.
- One of the major obstacles is that, during transplantation, the trees lose 80-95% of their root system. The lifespan of transplanted trees depends on post-transplantation care.
The step taken by the Delhi government is the need of the hour. To protect the environment, we need to protect the trees. Do you think it is a good step?
