Delhi lost over 78,000 trees in last 10 years
New Delhi, Aug 10 : In the past 10 years, over 78,000 trees has been felled in the national capital, the Delhi Assembly was informed on Friday.
In a written reply, Environment Minister Imran Hussain told the House that by way of compensatory plantation, about 10 lakh saplings have been planted in the city.
"Between 2008 and 2018, the North Forest Department has chopped 16,235 trees, the South Forest Department 33,715 trees, while the west cut 28,313 trees," he said.
The total number of trees chopped was 78,263.
In compensation, the North Forest Department has planted 2,08,8452 saplings, the South Forest Department 3,77,103 and the West Forest Department has planted 3,94,678 saplings, the Minister reads.
Of this, only 2,94,990 plants in west department and 1,35,735 plants survived in the North Forest Department.
The South Forest Department is in the process of collecting the information of the plants that survived.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
