Green Legacy Keep your memories alive

Warangal: In a bid to promote plantation in its limits, which will contribute to the future, the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) has come up with an initiative – Green Legacy. The mission is to raise awareness regarding the environment by encouraging people to plant saplings, which ultimately lead to urban forestry in the corporation.

The tradition of planting trees in memory of someone or some event exists worldwide. However, in the context of present day scenario, the cause of environmental degradation is more by the anthropogenic rather than natural phenomena. The initiative which allows planting a tree comes in as a huge opportunity for those people, who want to do something special to remember an important occasion in their life instead of buying a gift for their near and dear.

The Green Legacy is much like that of Smriti Vanam proposed by the Warangal district administration in 2015 that never saw the light of the day. It may be mentioned here that keeping an eye on agro-forestry development that complements the Haritha Haram, a massive afforestation programme to improve the green cover in the State, the administration had identified land at Bestamcheruvu near Mamnoor, the suburbs of Warangal city, for the Smriti Vanam.

Against this backdrop, the GWMC has come forward to promote its own initiative christened as Green Legacy as part of Haritha Haram near the Waddepally Tank Bund. However, the initiative is not free of cost. Those who want to plant a tree will have to pay Rs 1,116 to the GWMC.

The fee is going to be Rs 516 for those who want to plant a fruit-bearing plant. The interested persons will have to pay it at e-Seva Centres and show it to the functionaries at the Tank Bund. A nameplate of the participant will be put up beside the tree so that they identify.

"The objective of the Green Legacy is educating the community about the value of trees and the quintessence of natural environment by actively involving the community," the MEPMA Town Project Officer (TPO) M Vijayalakshmi told The Hans India.

Gurijala Sriram Reddy, an environmentalist, said, "The initiative not only helps people keep their memories alive but also uphold the cause of conservation of environment."