HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed the officials concerned to make use of MGNREGA funds for the next phase of Telangana Ku Haritha Haaram.
“An action plan is to be evolved for getting the work done through agricultural labourers. At every stage, right from nursery maintenance to plantation, it is ultimately the human labour that counts. A detailed project report is to be prepared,” he said at a meeting to review Haritha Haaram held at Pragathi Bhavan here on Sunday.
Ministers KT Rama Rao and Jupally Krishna Rao, chief secretary SK Joshi, Panchayat Raj principal secretary Vikas Raj and commissioner Neetu Prasad, and others participated in the meeting.
“Including those newly-formed, there are 12,751 village panchayats in the State. Each village should be considered a unit and in every unit, nurseries are to be developed. Keeping ready the saplings in the nurseries, distributing them, digging the pits, planting and watering them — all these involve human labour. Agricultural labourers may be utilised for it,” he said.
“As NREGA stipulates taking up employment generation programmes, making use of NREGA funds for Haritha Haaram is beneficial in both ways. An action plan should be evolved to make use of NREGA funds for the programme. Besides preparing a detailed project report, estimates should also be worked out as to how much need to be spent on it.”
He said the greenery and ecosystem lost due to the felling of trees and degeneration of forests should be brought back. Human life has become problematic. Monkeys that were living off wild fruits migrated to villages and started damaging the crops. “At times they even enter the kitchens of our homes in search of food. All this is due to loss of forests and trees. Hence the need for forest rejuvenation through Haritha Haaram. Trees on a large scale have to come up in villages,” he said.
Rao directed that fruit-bearing trees like Tuniki, Ellakai, Morri, Berry, Custard apple and guava are to be kept ready in large numbers for distribution. “These are the trees on which monkeys and other wild animals depend for their food. These are to be grown in surrounding forests, agricultural fields and empty places. This would prevent monkeys and other wild animals from migrating to human habitations. If fruit-bearing trees useful to animals as well as human beings are distributed, everyone will evince interest in planting them on their residential premises,” he said.
CM’s directive on the plantation
Priority and importance should be given to growing fruit-bearing trees
25 pc of saplings shall be of the fruit-bearing variety
Fruit-bearing trees like Tuniki, Ellakai, Morri, berry, custard apple and guava are to be kept ready in large numbers for distribution
These are trees on which monkeys and other wild animals depend for their food. This would prevent monkeys and wild animals from migrating to human habitations
KCR meets Guv
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met Governor ESL Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan here on Sunday. The meeting gained importance as it took place just two days after the governor had met President Ram Nath Kovind and Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi