more-in After a meeting with representatives of over 261 Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and NGOs of the Capital at his residence on Sunday, Chief Minister Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his government would double the financial assistance for maintenance of parks and gardens. ?2 lakh per acre From the existing ?1 lakh per acre, the assistance will be increased to ?2 lakh per acre to the RWAs and NGOs registered with the Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS), Mr. Kejriwal said. The CM also announced that the biggest-ever plantation drive to be held in the history of Delhi would begin next month and that he would release the details very soon. He sought the participation of all Delhiites to ensure that the drive was a success. Mr. Kejriwal said that the grant of financial assistance will now not be linked with the categorisation of colonies, since there was no reasonable ground for restricting financial assistance based upon the categorisation. “The financial assistance provided by the DPGS will now be uniform at 90% by the government for the registered RWAs and NGOs, and balance 10% will be borne by the RWAs/NGOs,” he said. In a statement on doing away with the categorisation, the government said that the DPGS has so far been providing financial assistance at ?1 lakh per acre per annum, depending upon the size of the park and the assistance was based upon the categorisation of colonies from ‘A’ to ‘H’, as classified by the civic bodies for levy of property tax. “Parks/gardens located in colonies falling under ‘A’ category get 30% of assistance with progressive assistance of up to 100% in case of ‘H’-category colonies. In the financial years 2017-18, 261 RWAs received financial assistance to the tune of around ?1.63 crore for maintaining 1,164 parks covering around 370-acre area,” read the statement.

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