HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has set up 565 nurseries in all of its six zones across the city after the State Government gave a clarion call to plant around 20 crore saplings this year, under the seventh phase of Telangana Ku Haritha Haram (TKHH). Each zone must raise 25 lakh saplings to reach the target of 1.5 crore ny the end of April.
This is the first time the GHMC has taken up such a massive drive to establish its own nurseries, which will also help the civic body not depend on private firms for procuring plants. Citizens can pick the seedlings of their choice for free from these nurseries and plant them at their home.
The seedlings include varieties of shrubs, hedges, herbal, medicinal and flowering plants, and fruit-bearing trees. All the nurseries are being geotagged to the website maintained by the Telangana Forest Department for Haritha Haram.
Once the seedlings are planted, their details such as availability of species in the nurseries at different locations, and the person incharge, will be uploaded on the GHMC website so that citizens can go to the nurseries and pick species of their choice.
The drive was taken up on the instructions of Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao and MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao.
Sources in the GHMC said, even a small nursery has to raise a minimum of 10,000 plants. The developed saplings will be planted on the vacant spots, roadsides, central medians, parks and flyovers. Each seedling costs Rs 6, so 1.50 crore saplings cost comes Rs 9 crore.