Mancherial: Enter the depot of the dusty TSRTC, Mancherial, and one will be amazed by the garden and the variety of beautiful flowers and fruit-bearing trees. Move a little ahead and one can see another garden in a corner.
The two gardens, developed in the past five years, not only come as stress-busters for TSRTC employees but have transformed the locality into a beautiful place that was earlier polluted by smoke and dust generated by the buses.
The person behind the development of these gardens is a head constable attached to the vigilance and security wing of TSRTC, Mancherial depot. Surender Rao, the man with the green thumb, who relentlessly worked hard to increase green cover in the premises, has planted over 200 plants in open spaces since he was posted here in 2015.
“Drawing inspiration from Harita Haram programme, the massive plantation drive of the State government, I began planting saplings wherever I found empty space in the depot. I succeeded in this mission with the help of donors and TSRTC officials who always encouraged me to improve greenery in the premises,” Surender Rao told Telangana Today.
The head constable has raised water apple, guava, mango, hibiscus, Holy basil, jackfruit, ficus, red sanders, some ornamental flowers and some medicinal plants in the two gardens. He laid a special pipeline to water the plants and engages staffers and workers of the corporation to remove weeds in the gardens. He has also set up a fence to safeguard the trees.
The security official installed an idol of Lord Krishna in the centre of one of the gardens to ensure the protection of the saplings. He put up several boards with slogans around the gardens to create awareness about the importance of trees and the need to plant saplings.
Surender Rao has won three awards from the authorities for his outstanding efforts to increase greenery in the depot. Rao is also known to motivate staffers and colleagues to render quality services to the people in the public transportation system and in maintaining discipline and time management.
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