Target to plant one lakh saplings in Vikarabad and Tandur each

​Vikarabad: Nestled among the picturesque Anantagiri Hills and the adjoining forest, the town, which was once the summer resort for the Nizams, is fast losing its charm as a hill station because of the raising temperature on account of felling of the trees.

The town used to record at least four degrees less than the maximum temperature recorded in Hyderabad. But, the town soon became like any town recording higher and higher temperatures on account of mindless felling of trees in the name of the development. In place of the trees felled, no new saplings have been planted leading to escalation of temperatures in the town.

During the current phase of the Haritha Haram programme, it is targeted to plant at least 50,000 saplings in the municipal limits of the town. The municipal area of the town spreads over 64 square kilometers. The town has 12,000 homes and has a population of over 60,000.

The town has 28 Wards and a special officer is appointed in-charge for each ward. The officers toured the allotted geographical area and identified vacant sites and other places suitable for planting of saplings. Accordingly, a target to plant at least 50,000 saplings has been arrived.

The break-up of planting saplings is as follows: 12,500 saplings would be used for avenue plantation and for planting in vacant sites of the municipality, another 12,500 would be planted in campuses of educational institutions, government offices and burial grounds. The rest of the 25,000 would be distributed among the house-owners for planting them in their homes.

Of the targeted saplings, 50 per cent are meant for providing shade. These include pongamia, peepal, gulmohar, Sishu variety of plants and so on. They have been preserved in the municipal office here. The municipality acquires the rest of the saplings – 10,000 through the MEPMA and 15,000 through the official channels.

To provide tree guards to the saplings planted the town municipality sanctioned Rs 11 lakh, including Rs 5 lakh by the District Collector.

The target fixed for planting saplings in the industrial town of Tandur is one lakh. The town has a population of over 65,252. Saplings equal to the number of people living in the town are planted by giving one sapling to each of the resident.

To make the plantation programme a grand success 10 ward-wise teams have been constituted. Each team comprises of six members and one supervisor. Each team is entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of three wards. There are five bill collectors in the town municipality.

Each bill collector is entrusted with taking care of six wards. These teams visit homes and give them plants and make them plant saplings then and there. The rest of the 35 saplings will be planted in schools, vacant sites, and horticulture gardens, places of worship, burial grounds and garbage dumping yards. Plans have been drawn up to extent to carry out planting of saplings as part of the fourth phase of the Haritha Haram.