Harita Haram, one of the flagship programmes of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is giving sleepless nights to the officials of the Forest Department and District Water Management Agency (DWMA) for the last few weeks.
The State government had fixed an big target of planting 3.52 crore sapling in Medak district alone. The responsibility of nurturing saplings was entrusted to about 480 nurseries located in the district in addition to the Forest Department and DWMA, which were told to grow a major share of saplings.
While the DWMA was given the responsibility of growing about 1.5 crore sapling and seed, the Forest Department was asked to take care of the remaining saplings.
However, reasons such as lack of experience, improper training and fixing the target beyong the capacity of the nurseries to handle, made the things worse.
It was alleged that more than 40 per cent to 80 per cent of the saplings dried up in various nurseries.
This was pointed out by none other than Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao and Deputy Speaker M. Padma Devender Reddy and held the officials responsible for the condition.
“I am worried that Medak, the native district of Chief Minister, may fare last in implementing the Harita Haram programme. Several saplings dried up due to lack of water and proper maintenance,” said Mr. Harish Rao.
Similar was the reaction of the Deputy Speaker.
However, the officials say that poor quality of teakwood stumps supplied from Tamil Nadu, is one of the main reasons for present condition, and 20 per cent drying up is common in growing saplings.
“Teakwood stumps are being supplied from Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the nursery owners here are unable to meet the supply-demand, which increased suddenly. “With ‘Harita Haram’, the demand for teakwood stumps in Telangana hiked from 2 crore to 12 crore. This resulted in poor quality.”
Price of saplings
For Medak district, we were able to get 40 lakh teakwood saplings for 91 paise per unit in the first phase, but were forced to hike the amount to 99 paise per unit as the demand increased from other districts as well. Due to delay in finalising the rate and supply, resulted in saplings drying up,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
In the meantime, alternative efforts are on to grow kanuga, teakwood and dates by planting the seed or bareroot seedlings.
