The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government is not considering imposing a lockdown in the national Capital and is exploring other alternatives it has, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday.

Rai also said that the Central Government should stop the export of the coronavirus vaccine and open up inoculation for everyone.  "The Delhi Government is exploring all options and ideas. Night curfew has a role in checking the spread of coronavirus... But the Government is not completely dependent on it," the Minister said during a Press conference.

"We are not considering enforcing a lockdown. I believe we can check the spread through other alternatives," he said.

Rai said the Central Government should open up vaccination for everyone to control the situation. "It is unfortunate that the Centre has set criteria to vaccinate our own people, while it is exporting vaccine to other countries," he said.

The minister also talked about how with the efforts of the government, Delhi’s green cover surpassed the central government’s target of 15,20,000 trees. “We have planted around 32 lakhtrees and this is 210 per cent more than the designated target. The Central Government had set the target of an expanding 2338 hectares of green cover in Delhi, however, the Delhi government has increased the green cover upto 4654 hectares,” he said.

Rai said, during the pandemic, the forest department identified 13 medicinal plants, which were distributed for free in all areas of Delhi on the occasion of World Environment Day. “The Central Ridge Forest had 423 acres of Videshi Kikar Plant which did not have any impact on purifying air, hence the Delhi Government aims to get rid of it and replace it with endemic plants,” he added.

He said the Delhi Government has formed a committee that will work on replacing Vilayati Kikar trees with endemic plants by international standards; this work will take place under Delhi Ridge Project.