News: Over 25K flower saplings planted along expressway-21-12-2020
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has planted over 25,000 flower saplings along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway as part of a mission to make the city greener, officials said on Monday.
The MCG, along with the residents’ welfare associations (RWA) of DLF Phase-2 and in collaboration with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), prepared more than 45 flower beds and planted more than 25,000 flower saplings on a 1,200 square metre portion of land between Cyber City and Iffco Chowk, opposite the expressway.
The planting of saplings along the expressway is part of the MCG’s Green Gurugram Mission. Under this, the MCG is planning on planting more than 40 varieties of anti-pollution plants and flower saplings across the city. The Green Gurugram Mission commenced on November 29.
Flowers such as ice plant, snapdragon, calendula, sweet William, dahlia, daisies, African daisies and flox were planted along the stretch. All saplings were sourced from MCG’s nurseries in sectors 15 and 46.
On December 2, following a meeting with the NHAI, MCG and highways officials jointly decided to plant more than a million flower saplings between Iffco Chowk and Sirhaul toll along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to increase the city’s green cover and check air pollution.
After covering this stretch, the MCG and NHAI will plant flowers between Iffco Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk in the next phase, said officials privy to the matter.
“The entire plantation exercise took around seven days. First, the land was prepared for the plantation by clearing the green belt area next to the national highway. DLF officials also supported this initiative by providing horticulture-related staff to prepare the land and plant saplings. Plants were provided by the two MCG nurseries and by Sunday, the plantation in most areas was complete. The 1,200 square metre green belt areas are expected to bloom by the end of January and make the city both beautiful and help reduce localised air pollution,” said Dheeraj Kumar, joint commissioner, Swachh Bharat Mission, MCG.
Kumar said that the DLF Phase-2 RWA also organised a camp for its residents, before the plantation drive, and distributed 25,000 saplings to them, free of cost.
DLF Phase-2 RWA general secretary, CP Singh, said that this unique initiative of Mission Green Gurugram will bring positive vibes to the community. “We are facing huge challenges in environmental pollution. This project is a big step towards removing dust and cleaning the air around us. Residents of DLF Phase 2 and the RWA will jointly maintain these saplings and help the MCG in its Green Gurugram Mission,” said Singh.
