HYDERABAD: Greening the State is a costly affair. According to a press release issued by the Forest Department on Thursday, during the four phases of Telangana ku Haritha Haram afforestation drive since its launch in 2015, Rs 3,350 crore has been spent to plant 113.58 crore saplings.
The Forest Department has claimed that the survival rate of saplings stands at 91 per cent for saplings planted as part of avenue plantations along the national and state highways and Panchayati Raj roads, whereas it is 60 per cent in government areas protected with fencing and having water resources. Meanwhile, the survival rate is 53 per cent in open spaces and wastelands.
Avenue plantations have been carried out along a stretch of 7,409 km of roads across the State.
While the total saplings planted since 2015 by the State stands at 113.58 crore, the State government has set itself the ambitious target of planting 83.3 crore saplings this year. A major chunk of the sapling plantation target has been assigned to the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department.
As on Thursday, 18.48 per cent of this year’s 83.3 crore sapling plantation target was achieved, by planting 14.4 crore saplings across the State.
Each district has been given individual targets and most of them achieved 15-20 per cent of the set targets. The achievement rate was highest in Medchal at 73 per cent but was a meagre 6.7 per cent in the GHMC limits.
To aide a large number of plantations this year across the State, 11, 944 nurseries have been set up for 12, 571-gram panchayats in coordination with the forest, rural development and municipal and urban development departments.