In its annual budget presented on Tuesday, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) had something for all those “living” in its limits. While it announced several projects for its citizens, it did not forget the other “living beings”: plants and trees.

Through a first-ever project to be planned in India, the NDMC wants to take care of New Delhi’s green cover with a ‘tree ambulance’ equipped with all modern technologies.

“Just as those available for human beings in the city, we plan to have an ambulance for the plant population,” NDMC chairperson Parimal Rai said after the budget meeting. “There are many old trees and plants in the New Delhi area that need to be taken care of at regular intervals. The ambulance will be used for that purpose,” Rai added. The ambulance will also take care of any plant that is diseased or about to die due to neglect.

The project to acquire the ambulance, which will have basic facilities like manure reserves and chain-saws, is however only in the first stage of planning at present. “We plan to consult experts from the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI),” said Rai.

The council had planted around 12,000 saplings in the Central ridge last year. In addition, the Horticulture department developed herbal gardens at Talkatora Garden, Lodhi Garden and Safdarjung Madarsa nursery. Another herbal park will come up at Nehru Park this year.

The field-level staff, such as gardeners, were trained by experts from the IARI and FRI in 2008. While at least 300 gardeners are already trained, the NDMC now plans to send more for training.

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