Aamir Khan had a fascinating and entertaining conversation with Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, during the Lokmat Maharashtrian Of The Year 2026 held at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai. The superstar asked the CM about measures to deal with air pollution and rising AQI.
Devendra Fadnavis said, “We have to consider both development and sustainability and technology will help us in doing so. Our farmers in Maharashtra require 16,000 MW of power. We used to generate this power through coal. We gradually began shifting it to solar energy. Right now, 4,000 MW of electricity is generated through solar energy. This number will jump to 14,000 MW by the end of the year. Maharashtra will be the first state in India to provide complete electricity for agriculture through solar energy.”
He added, “To mitigate the impact of burning coal to generate 16,000 MW of power, we need to plant 300 crore trees. So, in a way, humne 300 crore ped ne lagate hue bhi humne 300 crore ped ka kaam kiya!”
Devendra Fadnavis revealed, “The tree cover in Maharashtra is 23%. Ideally, it should be 33%. To achieve that, Maharashtra needs 250 crore trees. We have started a mission to have 300 crore trees and we are developing it in the Aamir Khan style!”
Aamir smiled as the CM explained, “It means we are going to go deep into it. We’ll study agro-climatic conditions, soil conditions, indigenous spices, etc. We’ll find out which trees are thriving in that particular area for a long time. We plan to plant these 300 crore trees in the next 7 years. This is possible because from 2014 to 2019, we had decided to plant 50 crore more trees. And we succeeded. In 2020, a report confirmed that Maharashtra was the only state where both tree cover and forest cover increased.”
Aamir Khan then asked the burning question, “AQI has increased in Mumbai. How do you plan to tackle it?”
Devendra Fadnavis replied, “The entire city is going through a redevelopment process. We have decided to bring in sustainable practices and develop SOPs for the same. From producing construction material to handling it, if we take care of the whole process, then we can redevelop with minimal pollution. Day before yesterday, I had formed a committee which would understand how we should implement norms that are present in other parts of the world for tackling pollution.”
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