The GHMC will undertake plantation on open spaces earmarked for parks in colonies and layouts across the city, wherever they are vacant, as part of the ongoing fourth phase of Haritha Haram programme.
By doing so, the civic body aims to achieve the twin objects of meeting plantation targets, as well as saving open spaces from encroachment.
The Urban Biodiversity wing, through a survey conducted this year, has identified a total of 833 plots earmarked in the layouts as colony parks, which have not yet been planted. The plan is to first plant them with trees, so as to give immunity against encroachments. In the later phase, they will be spruced up and developed into landscaped parks with walking tracks and seating arrangements.
Of GHMC’s share of 5 lakh saplings to be planted across the city, about 1.25 lakh will go into these open spaces covering over 200 acres, Additional Commissioner (Urban Biodiversity) V. Krishna informed.
Of the open spaces earmarked for parks across various colonies in the city, GHMC has so far planted a total of 1,238 plots. Among them, 806 are landscaped gardens with walking tracks and seating arrangements, while 432 are just planted with trees.
It has been the practice to develop landscaped parks where the colony welfare associations come forward for maintenance, and to plant tree species where such initiative is lacking.
As per another survey conducted a couple of years ago by GHMC’s Town Planing wing, the city has 3,356 plots shown as open spaces in colonies and layouts, covering around 1,400 acres. They include plots marked by developers for parks and playgrounds, the ownership of which technically lies with GHMC. These are apart from the 526 open spaces GHMC owns individually across the city.
Majority of these park spaces are in areas surrounding L.B. Nagar and Jubilee Hills, officials say.
The corporation has nearly completed building compound walls around them, with only about 200-300 remaining to be built, Chief City Planner S. Devender Reddy informs. Close to 40 plots are caught in legal wrangles.
As per norms, 10% of the layout should be open spaces, with relaxation of 2.5% for accommodating utilities such as distribution transformers or water tanks.