Hardly any participation from people in Vana Mahotsavam

After the Congress government took office, the program was renamed Vana Mahotsavam and launched on July 3 of this year. Aside from formal tree-planting events by ministers and other elected officials, there has been little participation from the public.

Hyderabad: There was a time when people from different sections actively participated in the annual plantation drive under Haritha Haram prorgamme in the State.

After the Congress government came to power, the programme was renamed as Vana Mahotsavam and was launched on July 3 this year. Save for formal plantations by Ministers and other elected public representatives at different programmes, there is hardly any participation from people.

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Considering the fact that nearly 50,000 trees had collapsed in Eturnagaram and neighbouring areas due to heavy rains last month, the plantation drive helps in covering the green cover loss.

In the past, school and college students, employees both from private and public sectors, NGOs and other organisations used to participate in the programme and plant saplings in respective areas.

Records were created by people and NGOs while taking up massive plantation drives. In 2022, the efforts of Mahabubnagar district administration in framing the ‘Largest Seed Ball Sentence’ with 73,918 seed balls and preparing 2.08 crore seed balls in 10 days had earned them a place in the Guinness book of Records.

The Self-Help Group women had prepared 2.08 crore seed balls in just 10 days, surpassing their own record of preparing 1.18 crore seed balls in the past.

Corporate companies were involved in saplings plantations and special programmes were organized to plant saplings on the birthdays, anniversaries and other auspicious occasions by the people.

Apart from the forest department, many other departments too used to plant saplings in their respective lands. But this year, there is hardly any such participation from different sections.

The rainy season will end in a few days. Generally, the plantations are done during the July to September period as it would aid in survival of the saplings. This year, the plantations at ground level, especially in urban areas under Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are not so encouraging.

The forest department had planned to plant 20 crore saplings this year and considering the pace of the plantations, achieving the targets appears to be a challenge. However, forest officials claim that plantation drives were being taken up in different places covering vast areas and the targets would be definitely achieved. In fact, targets for the 2025-26 have also been fixed, a senior official said.