Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy on Thursday inaugurated the much-awaited ‘Tangedu Vanam’, a mini-forest developed following Miyawaki plantation method, here in Lakkaram village along NH-65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada).
Planting more trees per acre as the technique, specialised by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, officials here had taken up one acre and planted 4,000 saplings of 36 native varieties in 2018.
Today, the park resembles a mini natural forest with plants in varying sizes, from shrubs and sub-trees to large trees and those forming canopy.
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Thanks to funds from the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) and others, of about ₹5 crore, apart from afforestation, the urban green space also has a walking track, a yoga hall in the open and theme-based bamboo constructions.
Along with Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy and District Collector Anita Ramachandran, Mr. Indrakaran Reddy planted more trees on the premises.
“This will be a green leisure park for motorists passing through the highway and for locals, an everyday pleasant experience. The model showed good results like here in Tangedu Vanam and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao renamed it Yadadri Natural Forest Establishment Model to emulate mini forests in all gram panchayats and mandals,” he said.
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Like many welfare programmes and one-of-a-kind initiatives in the State, he said forestry through Haritha Haram and urban forest parks will also become a model for the country in securing environmental sustainability.
“With crores of trees as our cover, the aim is to achieve a Haritha Telangana,” the Forest Minister said.
Adilabad
The programme was launched with great enthusiasm across old united Adilabad district.
In Mancherial district, SC, BC and Disabled Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar participated along with MLAs N. Diwakar Rao, Balka Suman, Collector Bharati Holikeri and others.
Mr. Eshwar planted saplings at Mundikunta in Jaipur mandal, the total number of plants to be planted during the day being 20,000 in the district. The district has a target of planting over 67 lakh plants during the drive.
Adilabad Collector A. Sridevasena and other officials planted saplings at the famous Nagoba temple in Keslapur of Indervelli mandal.
MLA Jogu Ramanna and others participated in a related event at Mahatma Jyothiba Phule BC Welfare Hostel.
In Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, ZP chairperson Kova Laxmi, Asifabad MLA Athram Sakku and Collector Sandeep Kumar Jha planted saplings near Jankapur jail.
In Nirmal ZP chairperson K. Vijayalami started the plantation drive along with Collector Md. Musharraf Ali Faruqui at Chitya village.
Khammam
The programme got underway across the district with an objective to plant around 1.05 crore saplings. Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar along with Collector R V Karnan kick-started the green drive by planting saplings at the mini-tank bund here.
Later, the Minister formally launched the mega green drive to plant around 1,500 saplings in Velugumatla Urban Park on the first day near here.
Kamareddy
Minister V. Prashanth Reddy launched the programme on the premises of the new Collectorate.
In this district alone, ₹80 crore was spent in the first year and ₹40 crore in the second year under employment guarantee scheme to implement the programme, he said, and wanted people to make the programme a big success.
The Minister earlier in the day inaugurated the programme at Pachhala Nadakuda in his native mandal Velpur.
Government Whip Gampa Govardhan, MP B.B. Patil, MLAs Hanmanth Shinde and J. Surender, ZP Chairperson D. Shobharaju, DCCB chairman P. Bhaskar Reddy, Secretary, Panchayat Raj Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Collector A. Sharath and SP N. Swetha participated.
(With inputs from Pradeep from Nalgonda, S. Harpal Singh from Adilabad, P. Sridhar from Khammam and P. Ram Mohan from Kamareddy)