Warangal: Even as Jayashankar Bhupalapalli district has the highest forest area in the state -- 4.70 hectares -- a few of them are fruit bearing trees. Keeping this in mind, the district administration has decided to plant different types of fruit trees in the district as part of the third phase of 'Telanganaku Haritha Haram.'
They not only bring ecological balance in the forest but also help animals in finding food without coming out of the forest area. The state government has set a target of planting 1.28 crore saplings in the district this year, as part of the programme beginning on July 12
The district officials managed to procure the required saplings from around 78 nurseries across the district. They are planning to plant 36 varieties of fruit and flower saplings, which include plant species like mango, pomegranate, guava, amla, custard apple, mahua, tamarind and sapota among others.
DFO T. Ravi Kiran said, "We have 35 lakh teak saplings, 15 lakh Eucalyptus, 25 lakh flower saplings, 20 lakh fruit saplings, and 35 lakh miscellaneous ones . We are taking up this mission prestigiously and ensure that the forest cover in the district does not decrease. We will take up plantations in the areas which are affected by podu farming. Several tribals have destroyed the forest in many areas. We have identified these areas and we are going to plant saplings there.
Apart from planting the saplings, we will make it a point to take care of them round the year. We will give that responsibility of maintaining the plants to the Haritha committees in each village level." He added that apart from avenue plantations, saplings would be planted along the highways. The officials have taken a decision to plant saplings on either side of the 25km stretch between Rupireddypalli in Regonda mandal to Bombulagadda in Bhupalapalli mandal, along with 10 lakh saplings are going to be planted in the coal belt and empty Singareni lands.
