Acute Shortage of Saplings Hits Government's Haritha Haaram

State government wants to plant 40 crore saplings across the State this year but nurseries in State and across the country do not seem to have that many.

HYDERABAD: Even as the first spell of monsoon is expected to hit the State soon, the State government is still grappling with acute shortage of saplings for its ambitious Haritha Haaram plantation programme. As against the State government’s ambitious plan to plant around 40 crore saplings this year, the situation is such that neither the state-run nurseries nor the open market is in a position to match the overwhelming demand.

Little did the government realise that it cannot not obtain such mindboggling number of saplings when the announcement was made, an official entrusted with overseeing the Haritha Haaram project told Express.

Although the forest department has identified as many as 3,937 nurseries to raise 40-crore saplings, it soon realised there weren’t enough stock of seedlings in their germplasm banks to meet the target.

This being the case, the officials contacted nurseries in other states to meet the shortfall. Much to their dismay, it has emerged that nurseries in other states too are not in a position to bridge the gap created by the nurseries in Telangana.

The nurseries in Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and other states could not help them in realising the envisaged target. Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh government played spoilsport, an official said.

“After the Hudhud cyclone ravaged Visakhapatnam, the AP government procured overwhelmingly huge number of saplings from West Bengal to compensate for trees that were uprooted in the Steel City and other parts of coastal Andhra,” the official informed.

Under the flagship plantation drive, the Telangana government intends to plant 230 crore saplings in three years. Of which, 40 crore are expected to be planted this year by various departments.

AP Plays Spoilsport!

Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh government played spoilsport, an official said. “After the Hudhud cyclone ravaged Visakhapatnam, the AP government procured overwhelmingly huge number of saplings from West Bengal to compensate for trees that were uprooted in the Steel City and other parts of coastal Andhra,” the official informed.