Hyderabad: It was a daylight theft of sorts at the garden at Hitex in Madhapur. Screening of CCTV footage revealed rampant picking up of plants and saplings that the GHMC had painstakingly planted to create a vertical garden at Hitex in an effort to beautify the city for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. From pedestrians and kids to commuters driving by on bikes and cars, scores were seen carrying away plants from the garden, reveals camera footage recovered from near the entrance of Hitex. In one video circulating on social media, a family is seen merrily plucking out plants from the vertical garden.
Police said at least 5,000 small pots out of the 80,000 that were put up at the venue were stolen, robbing the lustre and serenity of the place. The vertical garden at Hitex entrance is managed by a private firm. While plants themselves are not an expensive item, but it needs mention that planters or pots containing them are; some 48 of these, each worth Rs 6,000, were stolen. That’s a theft to the tune of at least Rs 3.5 lakh. The planters – in the shapes of deer, swan and owls — were bought from donations made by several private firms as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
DCP Madhapur Vishwa Prasad said, “We are in the process of checking the CCTV footage and will pursue the matter further.” A GHMC official said that henceforth the pots will be put up only after installing several more CCTV cameras. In fact, the civic body is scaling down the all-round décor of the Hitex lane out of fear of thefts. Criminal cases have been registered against thefts in Madhapur, Raidurgam and Gachibowli police stations as the plants were put up across the stretch. Police are collecting CCTV footage from various locations. The GHMC in association with police is planning to increase the number of CCTVs.
