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Plantation drives expand citys green cover

The 2005 report of the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India reveals that the forest and tree cover in Delhi now stands at 19.09% of the total geographical area which is an increase of 15 sq km over the 2003 assessment. The survey report attributes this increase in open forest cover of the total forest cover to plantations carried out in the capital. Like all other states, Delhi has to reach the target of expanding the green cover to 33 per cent of the capital's geographical area by 2021 to meet the requirements of the National Forest Policy. Environment secretary JK Dadoo said the assessment of 2005 is information in retropect and a lot of greening action has happened between 2005 and 2007.