Corona scare hits green drive in Telangana

Hyderabad: The School and College Education departments and universities are finding it tough to meet Haritha Haram targets due to absence of students.

It may be mentioned here that the State government has set targets of 53 departments to roll out the Haritha Haram programme during the current rainy season. Some of them include the Central government agencies like DRDO, Railways etc. According to sources, of the Central government agencies, it was only the Defence and Military which have completed the target of 100 per cent plantation under Haritha Haram.

Of the 53 departments, only Civil Supplies, government offices and institutions and Panchayat Raj Roads have reached their target and the Women and Child Welfare, Labour, Transport, DRDO are all set to complete their targets soon.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official coordinator of the Haritha Haram programme, said, "of the 53 departments, only five have achieved their targets. Four more departments have completed more than 90 per cent of the plantation drive. 11 departments have completed their targets ranging from 50 to about 86.6 per cent."

However, nearly 32 more departments are below 50 per cent of their Haritha Haram targets. Of these, the School Education department could only complete 29.87 per cent. Similarly, the Intermediate and College Education departments together could only achieve a 23.31 per cent of the targeted plantation. Besides, universities could achieve only 3.5 per cent of the target.

When asked, the officials said that the closure of schools, colleges and the universities due to the Covid lockdown has made them struggling to achieve the Haritha Haram targets. Also, the institutions are not ready to ask teachers and students to participate in the plantation programme due to the Covid scare.

Similarly, there are several other departments where the line department staff drive the plantation programme are also not forthcoming due to the Covid scare. Revenue, Endowments, Municipal, Railways, Tribal Welfare, Fisheries were among the several departments who could not achieve their Haritha Haram targets.