Haritha Haram in Telangana from today

Hyderabad: The decennial celebrations of the Telangana Formation Day entered their final phase on Sunday. The government is organising programmes daily from June 2, the State Formation Day, highlighting the progress made in various sectors during the last nine years. While on Sunday the state celebrated Telangana Drinking Water Festival, the government on Monday would be taking up a massive tree plantation drive under the Haritha Haram programme. The government has targeted to plant 19.50 crore saplings across the state.

Under Telangana Green Festival (Haritha Utsavam), the plantation programme will begin in all villages and towns. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will launch Haritha Utsavam by planting saplings at an urban park in Tummaluru village in Rangareddy district. Arrangements for planting 25,000 saplings in 25 acres have been made by the Forest department. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal briefed the District Collectors about Harita Utsavam and various plantation programmes.

All the government offices and other institutions would be covered under the programme. In all the constituency- level programmes, the achievements of the government will be showcased. Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari said that all urban parks will have free entry on the day and the public should be encouraged to visit them.

She observed that the public must be sensitised and made aware about the importance of plantation so that the programme is sustained. To increase the green cover, the state government had launched Haritha Haram in 2015. The government said 273 crore saplings have been planted so far under this drive.