Amid the searing heat in the national capital, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said the plantation of around 2.5 crore saplings by the government in the last four years has increased the city's green cover.

Delhi's green belt rose from 20 per cent in 2013 to 23.6 per cent in 2021, Rai said during a press conference here.

The minister said the primary solution to the rising temperature which has broken records in Delhi and across the country in the last one and one-and-a-half months is to increase the green cover.

When the elections were being held last time, the Delhi chief minister gave 10 guarantees to the people of the city in which the major guarantee was that 2 crore saplings will be planted here in the next five years, he said.

"In the last four years, the number of saplings planted in Delhi has reached 2.5 crore. The guarantee which was to be fulfilled in five years, the government has achieved it in four years by working with over 25 greening agencies in the city," Rai said, adding that this campaign will have to be taken further.

"We are constantly working to increase the green belt in the national capital. In 2013, the green area of the city was 20 per cent which has increased to 23.6 per cent in 2021 due to the tree plantation campaign," he said.

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