Buoyed by Tree City tag, GHMC to go on mammoth green drives

HYDERABAD: Spurred by Hyderabad becoming the only Indian city to be bestowed with a 2020 Tree City of the World tag, GHMC and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) have decided to further increase the green cover in Greater Hyderabad limits.Hyderabad received the recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for its commitment to grow and maintain urban forests in the city. Now, the civic bodies want take up large-scale plantations and develop urban forest blocks, multi-layer avenue plantations (MLAP), Miyawaki plantations, theme parks, junction improvements, tree parks and open space plantations.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao too appreciated efforts of the administration for getting the recognition, and said it was the result of Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme, which contributed in increasing the State’s green cover over the past few years.

Mini forests are top priority
Buoyed by this, the GHMC and HMDA are going to carry out as many as 1 crore and 3.5 crore plantations during the current financial year, according to official sources. GHMC’s top priority is developing more Mayawaki plantations (mini forests), an urban afforestation technique, in all six zones. The method involves planting varied tree species close together in a restricted area. With the method, saplings grow 10 times faster than in regular plantations and result in a forest that is 30 times denser. Such plantations have been taken up in 406 locations.

Nurseries to be key
Apart from this, the GHMC has established nearly 600 new nurseries. Each zone has set up 100 nurseries and has been set a target to raise 25 lakh saplings. Nurseries have been decentralised, where people can pick up seedlings and take up planting activities at their homes, apartments and colonies. The seedlings would be distributed to citizens free of cost. All nurseries are being geo-tagged to the website maintained by the Telangana Forest Department. Details would be uploaded on the GHMC website, and accordingly, people can visit the nurseries and choose species that they want.

Previously, for taking up large-scale plantations in the city, the civic body used to procure plants from private firms, which was a costly affair. Also, as per the instructions of the Chief Minister, GHMC is developing three urban forest parks around the city in Suraram (455 Ha), Madannaguda (97 Ha) and Nadergul (43 Ha), with a financial outlay of `17.75 crore, which will be ready by the end of this year. A few more panchatatva parks will also come up in the city. MLAP along major roads To give an aesthetic appeal to major roads, MLAP will be taken up on either side of the roads for a stretch of 75-80 km during this year.