Take up plantation to save mankind: Minister

Mahbubnagar: Health Minister Dr. Laxma Reddy on Wednesday gave a call to the people to take up plantation of trees on a large scale and save the humanity from the environmental disaster.

While taking part in the launch of 4th phase of Harithahaaram programme at Udugonda village of Midjil mandal, the Health Minister said, “with fast changing environmental conditions, it has become imperative for us to take up plantation drive as a mass movement. Otherwise, mankind will soon become extinct. It is high time that each and every individual must take the responsibility of planting trees and save the earth from destruction.”

Laxma Redy said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao launched welfare and development programmes which were done in the State, and Harithahaaram is one of them taken up on highest priority. “CM KCR has launched many welfare and development schemes that have impacted each and every individual in the State,” the minister said.

“The main objective of all these schemes is to help improve the living standards of the people of Telangana and finally achieve a Golden Telangana,” observed Dr. Laxma Reddy. Later, the minster inaugurated the newly constructed gram panchayat building at Udugonda and took part in the mass tree plantation programme and laid a foundation stone for the construction of a CC road in the village.

Criticising the Congress rule in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the minister said that earlier rulers gave least priority to the welfare projects in the State and even one or two were taken up they were also left incomplete.

The minister said soon after the formation of Telangana, CM KCR launched never before welfare schemes and designed large scale Irrigational projects along with taking up of mammoth projects like Mission Bhageeratha and Mission Kakatiya on a time-bound and target-oriented bases and working hard to ensure that each and every household gets pure drinking tap water.

With Mission Kakatiya and long-term irrigation projects, the farmers of Palamur and other districts in the State would get irrigation water and turn Telangana a green belt like Konaseema in Andhra Pradesh, he added.

The minister said as Palamuru district has been fortunate enough to get right amount of rainfall for this Kharif season, taking up tree plantation is apt during this season. “Vapus Rawal plants are the best trees to be planted as they have the ability to survive better even in the scanty rain conditions. However, protecting the planted trees is one of the most important aspects one have to keep in mind and see that all the trees achieve 100 per cent survival rate,” noted the minister while advising the forest officials.

The minister said as Mahabubnagar district is having only 16 per cent of forest, the district is way behind to reach the standard international forest ration of 33 per cent. He said that because of lack of adequate forests today the people in the district are suffering from droughts and other environmental disasters like floods and excess heat wave conditions.

Therefore to save the mankind and protect our future generations from extinction, people must come forward to take up plantation drive and plant saplings as a mass movement and save our earth from the lurking environmental disaster, observed the Minister.