India, July 4 -- Chief minister Rekha Gupta inaugurated this year's Van Mahotsav event on Thursday at the Bharat Mandapam, Pragati Maidan. Gupta, accompanied by ministers Majinder Singh Sirsa and Parvesh Verma , and BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, also planted a sapling on the occasion.

The government now plans to plant 700,000 saplings across Delhi, Gupta announced, adding that it is also developing Miyawaki forests across an area of 20 acres.

She exhorted Delhi citizens to work alongside the government to transform the city from a "gas chamber into a green capital".

"The festival symbolises our joint responsibility towards our mother Earth. It is a resolution through which we want to give the gift of life and greenery to the future generation...