Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday mooted the idea of introducing a Green Budget to earmark funds in the GHMC Budget every year to improve tree cover in the city.
Replying to a short debate on Haritha Haram in the Assembly, Mr Rao warned that a day would soon come in Hyderabad where the government would have to acquire acres of land by spending thousands of crores only to plant saplings.
“We are already witnessing 45º temperature and even more in the city. If the green cover is not improved, we may see 50ºC also like in Kothagudem and Khammam where birds and animals die from the scorching heat,” Mr Rao said.
The CM said the government had set itself a target of planting 10 crore saplings in HMDA limits of which half has been met. “Saplings have been planted in parks, along roads and highways. Huge plantation was taken up along the Outer Ring Road. The difference is visible with greenery all along the ORR,” Mr Rao said.
He said the government had spent Rs 2,008 crore in three years on Haritha Haram to plant 82 crore saplings. Of this, the state government contributed Rs 1,700 crore and the Centre Rs 300 crore.
He said the survival rate of saplings along roads and highways was 91 per cent, 79 per cent in government’s unused lands and 53 per cent in wastelands. Mr Rao said that the claimed 24 per cent of green cover existed on paper, while the fact is that thousands of acres of forests lands have been encroached. Due to devastation of forests, the menace of monkeys has increased in the state.
“Since we have destroyed forests, they are coming to villages and towns in search of food and water. It’s not possible to check this menace unless forests are rejuvenated,” he said. The CM said some people mocked him when he spoke about the monkey menace when Haritha Haaram was conceived, but all political parties in states that were going to the polls had incorporated this in their manifestoes.
