The district administration is gearing up for the State government’s flagship programme Haritha Haram in a big way and started raising saplings to ensure supply of 33,000 plants in every village.
As against the norm of 33 per cent forest in district, there was only 24.85 per cent of forest in Warangal district and to bridge the gap, the district administration plans to plant saplings on 27,235 acres across the district. As part of the plan, it was decided to grow 420 lakh plants every year.
Speaking to The Hindu , District Collector Vakati Karuna said they were raising saplings in 453 centres in collaboration with various agencies.
Under the Forest Department, a total of 247 lakh plants are being raised while in social forestry division, a total of 136.50 lakh trees are being raised. ITDA is raising five lakh saplings, DWMA - 120 lakh, Silk Board - 35 lakh, Warangal Municipal Corporation – 4 lakh, SCCL - 10 lakh and Forest Development Corporation is raising seven lakh.
“All put together we are raising 438 lakh saplings in 453 nurseries across the district. The government plans to plant 130 crore trees all over the Telangana State and every year we will plant 420 lakh in Warangal district,” the Collector explained.
Committees to supervise work
The Collector further said committees were constituted at village, mandal and district levels to oversee the implementation of Haritha Haram programme and to involve people on a large scale. Village Sarpanch would be chairman and the committee would have people drawn from different government departments such as Panchayat Raj, Forest, Revenue, Irrigation among others.
The district administration has been planning to pitch saplings on fringes of agricultural fields, unused lands, on either side of roads, at schools, government offices, places of worship and on lands belonging to private organisations. The saplings would be a mix of medicinal, fruit bearing and shade giving trees that help in increasing the green cover.
