Prakash Javadekar: 'India's green cover has increased by 15K sq km'

Union Minister Prakash Javdekar addressed a press conference on various issues related to the environment where he said India's green cover has increased by 15,000 sq km in the last 4 years, on October 6. He was also asked about the ongoing Aarey colony fiasco in Mumbai to which he refrained from commenting and added, "Supreme Court has given a decision on it, so I will not comment on the matter". However, he reiterated the policy and practice of 'If you cut one tree, you plant and ensure the growth of five trees."

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Increase in India's green cover

Speaking about the effectiveness of afforestation, he stated that the last four years have seen an increase in the green cover by 15,000 square kilometres.

"In the last four years, the green cover of the country has increased by 15,000 square kilometres.There are only a few countries whose green cover has increased, that includes India."

In his address, he also acknowledged the problem of pollution in the capital. He said Delhi's air had started deteriorating since 2006, and there were many reasons behind it. There was no work on this problem until 2014, but after 2014, PM Modi launched the Air Quality Index and the government paid attention to this problem. In 2015, a revolutionary decision was taken under the leadership of PM Modi and BS4 was implemented across the country. 

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Suo Moto PIL

A special bench of the Supreme court asked the Maharashtra government to ensure that no trees are further axed in Aarey Colony, on Monday. The bench of Justice included Arun Mishra and Ashok Bhushan, who directed the government to maintain the status quo and said it would further hear all the petitions in the matter on October 21. The directive was passed after hearing a suo-moto PIL based on a letter written by a group of Law students.

There has been a huge tussle between a group of citizens and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) over the cutting of 2,600 trees in the Aarey colony area in Mumbai. The MMRCL wants to build a car shed for Mumbai Metro by clearing the trees. When the Bombay High Court dismissed the petitions filed by environmental activists, the MMRCL commenced cutting the trees overnight. This led to a lot of protests and scores of people were detained by the police in the process. A local court had sent 29 people to judicial custody in connection with the incident over the weekend.

READ: Aarey protest: Students' lawyer says, 'status quo will be maintained'

READ: Aarey Colony: Supreme Court stops authorities from cutting trees

(With Inputs from ANI)