Arvind Kejriwal urged citizens to make Delhi a "city of beautiful parks and gardens" (File photo)
In an effort to make Delhi greener and cleaner, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced increased financial assistance to the city's residents' associations for better upkeep of parks and gardens. The Delhi government announced that it would double the financial aid provided to Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) and NGOs registered with the Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS) for the upkeep of parks across the national capital. Mr Kejriwal said that this new policy will help in the maintenance of 18,000 parks in the city.
"Brainstormed wid 200 RWAs this morn on how RWAs cud participate in upkeep of parks (sic)" Arvind Kejriwal tweeted today.
"We will involve RWAs, NGOs, corporates n other regd bodies to adopt n maintain 18,000 parks in Del (sic)" the chief minister added.
Mr Kejriwal said that the financial aid will increase from Rs 1 lakh per acre to Rs 2 lakh per acre and also that the grant of financial assistance will now not be linked with the categorization of colonies, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The official statement released by the government said that it will provide 90 per cent of the financial assistance while the RWAs or NGOs will bear the remaining 10 per cent.
Arvind Kejriwal also said that a massive plantation drive was being planned by the AAP government next month and urged citizens to participate to help reduce pollution levels in the city.
The plan follows a similar clean-up drive in Mumbai's Versova beach, where citizens removed 5 million kg of plastic and filth from what was one of the city's dirtiest beaches last year.