If the government were to find the extent of open space and land to plant the crores of saplings envisaged in the Telanganaku Haritha Haram (THH) programme, human beings will be left with hardly any space. In the first year of the tree plantation drive plan, an estimated 1.3 lakh hectare of open space and land will be required to plant the targeted 4 crore saplings in Adilabad district and an equal extent or more in the subsequent three or four years.
The government has planned to grow trees under THH on bunds of tanks and in fields besides urban open spaces.
There is nevertheless, no clarity on the extent of open space available. For example, the District Water Management Agency has generated estimates to plant teak trees by about 34,000 SC, ST farmers at the rate of 160 per acre on tank bunds and 1,000 per block. Being small or marginal land holders, individual SC and ST farmers are likely to find it difficult to allocate even 1 acre of land for THH block plantation.
Though the territorial wing of the Forest Department has a smaller target in the plantation drive at 25 lakh saplings, it is finding it tough to resume encroached forest lands for the purpose. The resistance of illegal occupants of forest land at Dhanora village in Kerameri mandal is a case in point. The government also has no plans to restrict the number of saplings sought by private enthusiasts based on the extent of land available with them. In the absence of a supervisory mechanism, the success rate is not going to be high, say experts.
“Shortage of space leads to overcrowding of saplings in a given place. This deprives plants of proper nutrition,” says Satavahana University botanist, E.N. Murthy.
“There will not be shortage of open spaces,” asserts Adilabad Social Forestry Divisional Forest Officer, Mamidi Janakiram. “About 1,100 saplings can be accommodated in one hectare of land, which will leave us enough open space for future use,” he adds.
