A man pedals through the thin shade of trees on a hot afternoon.Ghaziabad: : Ghaziabad Development Authority has made tree plantation based on plot size mandatory to boost the green cover of the city. Under the new rule, which has come into effect from April 1, approval will not be granted by the Authority until provisions are made in the map showing land earmarked for plantation.The Authority has asked for a security deposit, which will be refunded if the officials are satisfied with the plantation carried out on the plots.An official said that for every 100 square meters two trees must be planted and they have to be specified clearly in the map submitted for approval. For commercial and industrial plots, two trees for every 80sq m and 250 trees per hectare have been made compulsory.“In school and park areas, 20% of the land area should have greenery, and if 50 or more trees are planted, then 50% of it should be fruit-bearing plants with a large canopy area,” the official said.For residential plots of up to 200 sq.m., Rs 5,000 as security, which has to be paid before the map approval. For a plot size between 201 square meter to 300 square meter, Rs 10,000 must be deposited.For bigger land parcels, ranging between 301 sq m and 500 sq m, Rs 15,000 will have to be deposited, and for plot sizes over 500 sq m, the security money rate has been fixed at Rs 25,000 per 100 sq m.For commercial and industrial land parcels, Rs 1 lakh will have to be submitted and for schools the amount is Rs 2 lakh.Over the past years, thousands of trees have been sacrificed at the altar of various development projects. A total of 375 trees were chopped off for the Hindon elevated road project and 2,760 trees and shrubs were removed during the refurbishment of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. To make way for the Namo Bharat project, 2,029 trees and shrubs were axeed.The India State of Forest Report 2023 said the green cover of Ghaziabad increased by just 0.03% compared to the State of Forest Report 2021, which was, however, contested by environmentalists who questioned the method adopted for determining the cover.Officials believe that this move will help lower the pollution levels in the city. According to an analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Ghaziabad was India’s most polluted city during the last winter. It recorded an average PM2.5 concentration of 172 micrograms per cubic meter, far above the national daily ambient air quality standard of 60 micrograms per cubic meter. It has been proven widely that trees can filter out PM2.5.