Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is to install vertical gardens on flyover and Metro Rail pillars.
Eight prominent flyovers have been identified, including the ones at Paradise Circle, Greenlands, Nagarjuna circle, Panjagutta, Telugu Talli statue and Nalgonda crossroads.
About 40 pillars will have the vertical gardens on all four sides by July 15. Apart from being pleasing to the eye, these plants absorb pollution.
“Suggestions to utilise the pillars for greenery have been coming from the people for some time. In Delhi this has been implemented in a couple of places while in countries like Mexico pillars are completely covered with vertical gardens,” said principal secretary Arvind Kumar of the municipal administration and urban development department.
He said apart from the greenery, the corporation would install lighting and paintings.
While decorative and vertical lighting will be put up on 20 pillars, the 40 pillars with vertical gardens were identified based on the height suitable for putting plants.
They had been tested on a couple of pillars, he said.
To avoid the theft of plants the GHMC will be putting up a frame and fixing the pots.
CCTV cameras will also be installed.
“White washing on most of the flyovers will be done by June 30 and in the following 10 days we’ll put up these gardens. The upper limit is July 15. In addition, we will be putting up creepers along the small fencing on other pillars,” Mr Kumar said.
On the Metro Rail pillars, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) will use the sides visible from the road for advertising.
The GHMC will grow vertical gardens on pillars that the L&T not use.
The principal secretary of MUAD said, “It is still kind of work in progress, to see how it comes up on one side of the Metro Rail pillar. After that, we will take it up with L&T.”
