Delhi has already earned accolades worldwide for its greenery. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi—MCD—despite the frequent brickbats it receives from the public and the media for its various  omissions and commissions, is determined to makeover its image.

 It wants to turn green Delhi into lush green this time before the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Its horticulture department has sown 41,000 species of plants at Roshanara Bagh which are likely to flower during the Games period. Some of the trees being grown by the MCD include Plumeria Alba, Plumeria Acutifolia, Lagerstromia Flosreginae, Colvillea Racemosa, Bougainvillea, Hisbiscus, Lantana, Cassia alata, Jatropha, Neem, Ashoka tree etc. It also plans to sow five lakh plants and shrubs so that they are ready by then.

The corporation has also drawn plans to secure these plants from being damaged by the unruly elements during that time. It plans to deploy its staff from the horticulture department to guard the plants near the main stadiums, offices and other important places on the routes of the VIPs who are likely to visit the city for games.

The civic agency appears keen about its plantation program even though its other plans for the Games may not be working as per the expectations. MCD Mayor Arti Mehra is taking keen interest in the decorating the capital with flowers.  She has ordered   large number of plants called Laxmi Taru or Simarouba Glauca to be imported from South America.

Said Mehra: ‘‘I had gone to Bangalore and was presented with the plant there. I had then asked for more of these plants which were brought from South America. It is useful environmentally also as it bears edible oil seeds. We plan to plant around 4,000 of these trees.’’

The MCD plans to facelift around 84 main roads — like MG Road, Shanker Road, Pusa Road, Badarpur area, Rajghat, University roads, Surajkund Road,19 flyovers and bridges and 198 traffic circles, traffic islands by planting different species of plants, shrubs and ground covers.

There is also a plan to open up more herbal gardens besides the nine already existing at Roshanara Garden, Qudsia Bagh, Ajmal Khan Park, Subhash Park and Indraprastha Park.

The horticulture department is seeking the cooperation of the resident welfare associations –RWAs to plant more species all over the city.