In Telugu, ‘Haritha Haram’ means ‘garland of greenery’. 7 years ago, the Government of Telangana dreamt of converting the state into a ‘garland of greenery’ and launched a programme called ‘Telanganaku Haritha Haram’. Now in 2022, the dream is becoming a reality with the Urban Forest Parks and massive planation drives in rural areas as well. The government is spending more than Rs.600 crores to develop these green areas to protect and conserve the local biodiversity under ‘Telanganaku Haritha Haram’, which is the biggest plantation drive in the country and third in the world after China and Brazil.
After launching Haritha Haram, Telangana has planted 242 crore saplings in the past 7 years, which is more than the original target of 230 crore. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao started this programme in 2015 with the intention to improve the forest coverage to 33% from the 24% in 2014. Indian Masterminds interacted with 1987-batch IFS officer R. M. Dobriyal, State Nodal Officer, Telanganaku Haritha Haram, to get details about this initiative.
TELANGANAKU HARITHA HARAM
Mr. Dobriyal said that urban forest park is only one component of Telanganaku Haritha Haram. Massive plantation drive is going on in the rural areas too.
“All government departments, public and private sectors participate in this programme. Our original target in 2015 was to seed and grow 230 crore plants. But we have planted 242 crore plants so far in several thousand hectares. School, office, government land, extra land of any industry, market yard or dump yard – wherever we get a place, we plant there.”
NURSERY IN EVERY PANCHAYAT
He said that a special thing about this programme is the establishment of a nursery in every gram panchayat. There are 15241 nurseries at present. The Panchayati Raj Act and Municipal Act were amended to implement this programme properly.
“We have brought in a new Act. Under this Act, the responsibility of 85 percent survival of plants rests with the sarpanch and secretary.Whatever plants are being planted should be saved, We have arranged a tractor, trolley and tanker in each village, so that water and other arrangements can be made comfortably.”
URBAN PARKS
Talking about urban parks, Mr. Dobriyal said, “Similarly, our urban parks and forest areas in and around the city are doing great.Hyderabad has come in at the top 3, as it has 188 forest blocks around it. We are planting trees in 1.6 lakh acres while, at the same time, protecting the forest land. We are developing the urban parks right in the middle of the city.”
The urban parks within the cities are protected with a see-through wall and chain link around it. Pathways are built and after complete beautification, some part of it is opened to the public. These parks have become the biggest green spaces in the cities.
“Our plan is to spend 600 crores on urban parks and in developing forest areas in cities. About 350 crores have already been spent. Work is going on in 109 parks and work on 53 parks has been completed. Almost all cities in the state have been covered so far,” Mr. Dobriyal said.
