Forests play a major role in supporting the livelihoods of rural poor and tribals, mitigating the threat of global warming, conserving fertile soil and protecting vulnerable wildlife. As per Status of Forests Report, the forest area in Telangana is 27,292 sq. km — roughly 24.35 per cent of total geographical area.
Out of this 27,292 sq.km, as per records, reserved forest area is 19,696.23 sq. km and protected forest area is 6,953.47 sq. km, while the remaining 642.30 sq. km is unclassified. However, how much of this area has real trees and forests, as per the textbook definition, is not known.
Forests and biodiversity in Telangana have been shrinking with various projects, including irrigation and road construction works, undertaken after the formation of the state in 2014. Telangana was known for its rich biological diversity, distributed across nine agro-climatic regions. The state had dense teak forests within the Godavari basin. Owing to a lack of meaningful efforts to protect existing forests and resurrect forests in forest lands, Telangana has been facing the harshness of torrential rains, in the form of floods and water scarcity.
Probably in response, in March 2024, the government announced on World Forest Day that Telangana’s forest area would be expanded from 24.05 per cent to 33 per cent, in accordance with the National Forest Policy, 1988. To reach this target, the government of Telangana has to add another 10,000 sq. km as forests.
Creating a forest involves several challenges and requires careful planning and execution. The difficulty of creating a forest can vary depending on factors such as the location and size of the land, soil, the climate, the availability of native species, current land use, level of degradation, etc. Forests are one of the most complex ecosystems of nature. It takes hundreds of years for a forest to develop and be able to host flora, fauna, and biodiversity. The climate and ecological crises have exposed the need to reforest Telangana landscape on a dramatic scale.
In 2015, with the target to reach 33 per cent forest area, the government of Telangana launched Haritha Haram and intended to plant 230 crore saplings. As of 2019, only about 177 crore saplings were planted. The survival rate of the planted saplings is reported to be poor, and the creation of forests remained a distant dream.
Ensure protection of existing forests
While efforts to increase forest cover in Telangana must continue, rational planning should also ensure the protection of existing forests. In the 10 erstwhile districts, forest area in Hyderabad and Rangareddy district is very low — just 9.48 per cent of the geographical area. There are multiple threats to forests and forest land in this mostly urban area. Ironically, this urban area requires more forests to maintain lung space.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has the responsibility to develop an area of 7,235 sq. km. through a master plan. A master plan prepared and approved in 2023 has a lot of gaps and holes. It fails to identify forests and forest land for protection and conservation. A large chunk of this master plan is designated as a conservation zone, but has been used as a land bank — basically diverted to residential or commercial zones. The identified forest zone is very minimal, and the master plan never had a goal of ensuring 33 per cent of land for forest area within the HMDA limits. In this regard, protection of existing forests, open land and notified forest sanctuaries becomes an important task in line with the declared government policy of ensuring 33 per cent of land under forest cover.
Kancha Gachibowli land, identified for auction by the Telangana government, has various legal owners and claimants. However, this land remained protected, through years of dispute, with biodiversity and greenery thriving here. With intensive protection it could have become a major forest as well, given the existence of ridges, valleys and water bodies, within Survey No.25. It is also part of the Musi river basin and has been contributing significantly to the river basin flows. Its groundwater potential as of March 2025 is 15.62 m, while nearby areas of Gachibowli report 10.8 m. The presence of high-rise buildings in this region also means heavy groundwater withdrawal.
This land, of 2,700 acres of Survey No.25, which includes 400 acres identified for auction, is also a water sink. It enables enrichment of groundwater, even while high-rise buildings on the one side continue to suck out groundwater every day in enormous quantities. Once this 14 per cent of land-to-be-auctioned gets converted into a concrete landscape, the potential for groundwater replenishment is lost. Further, the potential for rapid floods increases. Maintaining biodiversity, along with waterbodies, undulating terrain and natural water flows ensures a favourable micro-climate. It is lost once the green cover and biodiversity are bulldozed.
Thus the issue of concern about Kancha Gachibowli is not about who owns the land, but to what purpose the land use is being converted to.
Relentless efforts to usurp the land
Almost three decades ago, when the process of alienating University of Hyderabad (UoH) land began, for various purposes, we as students raised concerns and were able to stop much of the diversion. But efforts to usurp this land have been relentless, with university authorities alternately being complicit. Since the government of Telangana has been planning the rejuvenation of Musi, retaining this more than 400-acre land as protected biodiversity land falls within that objective and can reinforce the water yield potential of the river.
Changes in land use, in topography and geography can have irreversible consequences on the micro-climate and overall water-land integration in the south-west zone of Hyderabad.
The government of Telangana, given its commitment to increasing forest cover and rejuvenation of Musi, has to rethink converting this naturally rich land into a concrete landscape. Practically this is a forest, or has become a forest. It was also part of the conservation zone of HMDA, until the dispute arose. Courts can define and redefine land use. Under Article 19, citizens are asking for it be conserved. Governments and courts have to comply with the demand.
This land, spanning more than 400 acres, can be considered a deemed forest, going by the Supreme Court judgment in TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union Of India (1996), which extended the definition of forests to its dictionary meaning, rather than based on legal boundaries or ownership. Accordingly, all revenue or even private lands that are forested come to be considered as ‘deemed forests’, and given the same treatment as forests as defined in the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. On March 15, 2025, the government of Telangana issued an order constituting a committee to identify forest land and prepare a consolidated land record. After a proper land survey, this Committee should declare Kancha Gachibowli land, in Survey No.25, as a forest. This forest can contribute to the state GDP in myriad ways too.
Donthi Narasimha Reddy
Environmentalist and public policy expert