Hyderabad: About 30.6 lakh saplings were given away to Hyderabadis for free while GHMC planted 3.5 lakh saplings as part of the Haritha Haram initiative in the city. The GHMC decided to plant another five lakh saplings, in addition to 40 lakh plantations in the 4th phase of Haritha Haram, during a review meeting on Biodiversity conducted by GHMC Commissioner M. Dana Kishore on Thursday. With the addition of the 5 lakh saplings, the civic body will have planted 2 crore saplings over last three years in the city.
The saplings planted by the GHMC have a 98 per cent survival rate as per GHMC officials. The government has given a provision that, if every year 10 per cent of the plantations die, they can be planted again as casualty replacement.
An official said, “Before the rainy season there was 94 per cent survival. Due to rains now, it is 100 per cent. Even saplings that died last year have been replaced. So, survival is above 98 per cent in areas taken care of by the GHMC. Some good locations have 100 per cent survival rate while bad ones have 95 per cent.” Every location has an in-charge officer who inspects every week. This way they are protected and maintained.
But there is no concrete record of survival of saplings given to citizens. An official said, “Whenever residents of colonies take plants in huge numbers, undertakings are taken to ensure the protection of plants. However, it is difficult to anticipate the survival rate as there is no mechanism to check the plants given to citizens.”
Meanwhile, GHMC will count the greenery in GHMC parks, vacant places, burial grounds and other departments, forests and universities in Greater Hyderabad. The entire green cover will be calculated with the help of GIS and SRS. GHMC is looking for funds, as part of CSR to construct parks in 1049 vacant locations.
Mr. Kishore said that GHMC would be collecting feedback from people about the maintenance of parks with the help of third party agencies.
A Greenbook containing all details of 17 Major Parks, 16 Theme Parks, 10 Biodiversity Parks, 806 Colony Parks and 324 Tree Parks, will be created in a fortnight. It has also been decided to display boards at parks with information on the parks so that citizens can have a detailed picture.
