Hyderabad: Over 18.4 crore saplings that were planted as part of the Haritha Haaram programme to improve green cover have been geo-tagged and monitored, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao claimed in the Assembly on Thursday. He said the survival rate was satisfactory at over 60 per cent.
He said monkeys that were earlier living in forests were now increasingly invading cities, towns and villages because there was no fruit for them in the forests.
“With Haritha Haaram, the state will receive more rains, leading to more forest cover. This will make monkeys go back to their natural habitat,” he said during a debate in the afforestation drive.
Mr Rao narrated an incident in Suryapet where villagers bought gray langur with Rs 80,000 to chase away monkeys, but was itself chased away by a group of monkeys. The CM said the monkeys had “adopted communism” in getting united in Suryapet, known to be a stronghold of the Left ideology.
Mr Rao said the government would plant 10 crore saplings in GHMC and HMDA limits including the ORR in the monsoon next year.
Mr Rao asked MPs, MLAs, and all public representatives to develop Smirithi Vanams in each village by planting saplings in the name of those who have passed away in a family.
