CM Bhupendra Patel launches ‘Mission 5 Million Trees’ and mobile pollution lab on Environment Day
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched Ahmedabad's 'Mission Five Million Trees' on World Environment Day, targeting 50 lakh saplings for 2026–27 alongside advanced real-time air pollution tracking laboratories to counter the city's intensifying urban heat island effect
Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad has set an ambitious target of planting 50 lakh (five million) trees during the 2026–27 fiscal year. This initiative is part of an expanded urban greening drive aimed at increasing green cover, improving air quality, and mitigating rising heat stress driven by rapid urbanisation.
Launching the ‘Mission Five Million Trees’ campaign on World Environment Day, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel flagged off a Mobile Real-Time Source Apportionment Laboratory. He also inaugurated a Miyawaki-based Clean-On Forest Development Project alongside a large-scale plantation programme at Chandkheda.
The initiative, spearheaded by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), comes as the city aggressively seeks to combat the “urban heat island effect,” which officials warn has intensified alongside rapid population growth and concrete urban expansion. According to the AMC, higher temperatures are now retained for longer periods, with severe heat conditions persisting for several hours well after peak daytime temperatures have dropped.
The newly launched Mobile Source Apportionment Laboratory, developed under the Smart Sensing and Digital Intelligence Project, is engineered to scientifically identify and map the principal contributors to air pollution across Ahmedabad. Officials stated the facility will provide real-time monitoring, enabling authorities to formulate targeted interventions to improve the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI).
Simultaneously, the Miyawaki-based urban forest project is designed to cultivate dense pockets of greenery, rapidly expanding the city’s overall canopy cover as part of broader climate resilience measures.
The AMC’s greening initiatives have expanded systematically over the last decade. Municipal records indicate that 11.66 lakh trees were planted in 2019–20, followed by 10.13 lakh in 2020–21, and 12.82 lakh in 2021–22. The numbers surged significantly to 20.75 lakh in 2022–23 and 20.05 lakh in 2023–24, before hitting 30.13 lakh in 2024–25. During the 2025–26 cycle, approximately 41.16 lakh trees were planted across the city. Building on this momentum, the AMC has targeted 50 lakh trees this year under the new mission.
The plantation drive will systematically cover major arterial roads, dividers, public spaces, municipal gardens, and vacant open lands. The civic body’s Air Quality Department has already mapped pollution hotspots across Ahmedabad to conduct focused plantation drives in areas with the highest vulnerability.
To ensure long-term maintenance and survival rates of the saplings, the AMC has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with private entities through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) initiatives.
The civic body is also driving public engagement through ‘Green Volunteer’ and ‘Memorial Park’ programmes, which have been integrated into the AMC Seva mobile application. A parallel campaign will encourage residential areas to qualify as ‘Green Societies.’ Residents wishing to plant trees within their private premises or housing societies can register via the app or by scanning a designated QR code, after which AMC teams will execute the plantation free of cost.
The launch event was attended by Energy Minister Rushikesh Patel, Ahmedabad Mayor Hitesh Barot, Deputy Mayor Anju Shah, Standing Committee Chairman Kamlesh Patel, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani, alongside other elected representatives and senior AMC officials.