Telangana tops the chart in afforestation drive

With 3817.61 lakh saplings planted during 2019-20, Telangana has been officially acknowleded by the Centre as the leader State in afforestation and as a torch-bearer in the initiative

Hyderabad: Six years of persistent effort, and continuing, through Telangana ku Haritha Haram, a novel green initiative of the TRS government, has placed Telangana firmly on top of the charts in the country in afforestation exercise.

With 3817.61 lakh saplings planted during 2019-20, Telangana has been officially acknowleded by the Centre as the leader State in afforestation and as a torch-bearer in the initiative.

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Union Minister of Environment and Forest Babul Supriyo informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday that Telangana had planted 3817.61 lakh saplings in 2019-20, far ahead of other State in the green initiative. He was replying to an unstarred question by Congress MP GC Chandrashekhar who sought State-wise details of actual number of trees planted during 2019-20. The next in the chart is Madhya Pradesh with 3454.71 lakh saplings planted followed by Uttar Pradesh with 2259.86 lakh plantations.

The Central government declared that of the total national target of 150.23 crore saplings plantation, Telangana had planted 38.17 crore saplings, the Union Minister said.Telangana’s achievement in this field is all the more significant given its geographical area and size, and the fact that it had managed to increase green cover by four per cent in just six years since 2014 when it achieved Statehood. And, Telangana’s share in the national achievement works out to over 25 per cent!

Forest Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy said as per the Union Minister’s information, Telangana tops the chart in afforestation programme and complimented the forest and other departments in the State. “With the same spirit, I appeal to you to make the seventh edition of Haritha Haram, which will commence in the next season, a grand success,” he said.

In 2015, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao commenced Telangana Ku Haritha Haram with the objective of rejuvenating degraded forests and increase the green cover from 24 per cent to 33 per cent in the State. Since then, the programme is being successfully implemented across the State every monsoon. People have been made partners in this ambitious programme of planting saplings and regular monitoring by officials has ensured a high survival rate of the saplings, Indrakaran Reddy said, adding that this had made Telangana zoom to the top in the country.

In the current year too, Telangana till date has already planted 27 crore saplings against the targeted 29.80 crore, registering 91.45 achievement. Due to corona pandemic, the saplings plantation was revised this year.

To mark Chandrashekhar Rao’s birthday on February 17, Koti Vriksharchana’ programme (one crore saplings plantation) was conducted by MP J. Santosh Kumar between 10 and 11 am across the State. In a tweet on Telangana’s achievement, he said: “Would like to Congratulate our Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao as Telangana has been officially declared as the State that planted the highest number of saplings in the country by Union Minister of State for Forests Babul Supriyo. This could be achieved due to CMs dream project Haritha Haram,”

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