Hyderabad: With temperatures soaring to record highs, a spot of greenery wouldn’t come amiss. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will provide citizens plants and trees free of cost in May. They need to just visit the zonal or circle GHMC nursery. The GHMC plans to distribute over one crore saplings in this pre-monsoon season in the Greater Hyderabad area. The corporation is finding it difficult to identify places to plant trees and to maintain the plants, so it has decided to give away plants to residents who will be interested in planting them and looking after them.
“Everyone must take equal responsibility to increase the green belt in the city. Wherever there is a need for translocation of trees/plants for reasons such as road widening, it should be done with proper care,” said GHMC Commissioner Dr B. Janardhan Reddy. The commissioner has also appealed to the heads of all government departments and NGOs to join hands with the GHMC to achieve the target of plantation as part of Haritha-haram programme.
He said the corporation was able to plant nearly 84 lakh saplings last year due to the cooperation of various departments and NGOs. This year too, he said that the GHMC hopes to make the programme a grand success. He said everyone should take res-ponsibility to ensure their proper maintenance.
Residents to get medicinal plants:
More than 40 varieties of homestead, medicinal, ornamental and fruit plants will be distributed to the general public free of cost by GHMC. Taller plants will be supplied to educational institutions, government offices etc that have more space. V. Damodar, additional commissioner, urban biodiversity, said, “At present, GHMC nurseries located in all zones have 13 lakh saplings. The corporation will be procuring another 70 lakh from another government agency. GHMC will only provide the saplings, while it is the job of the residents to maintain them. The department is also looking at providing mosquito repellent plants.”
Another 517 open spaces have been identified which will be used for plantations. These include graveyards, lakes, and avenues. The GHMC wants to involve private companies in developing and maintaining greenery and has called for Expression of Interest. The company’s logo will be allowed on traffic islands and central median that the firm would decide to maintain.
Some 13 companies have so far expressed interest in looking after 15 traffic islands, central medians and areas under flyovers. The GHMC will save Rs 95.59 lakh a year on maintenance of these areas once the private companies take them over.
