Warangal Rural meets Haritha Haram target, plants 1.12 cr saplings

Warangal Rural: The district administration has achieved the set target of planting 1.10 crore saplings in the district during the third phase of State government’s flagship plantation programme Haritha Haram.

Presiding over a review meeting on Haritha Haram here on Tuesday, District Collector Prashanth Jeevan Patil said that nearly 1.12 crore saplings were planted in the district since the beginning of plantation programme on July 12. All the officials and elected representatives have been involved in the programme and their collective efforts made it possible to cross the target, he added.

Collector Patil said that regular monitoring and review of the programme enabled them to reach the target before the deadline. Besides planting saplings, Grama Haritha Rakshana Committees were formed to look after the plants. One nodal officer for each village was appointed, he added.

The District Collector said that a Green Fund Society was established to ensure the protection of planted saplings. He said that the government employees in the district have offered their one-day salary towards the fund. The amounts contributed by employees were used to procure tree guards. So far Rs 8.5 lakh was contributed, he added.

Through the Agriculture department, 16 lakh teak, malabar and eucalyptus saplings were distributed to farmers to plant on the boundaries of the fields. Similarly, vegetable and fruit yielding plants were planted at social welfare hostels, Jeevan Patil noted.

“Every sapling planted is geo-tagged and tagging of 77 per cent of plants is completed,” he added.