Ensure no laxity in Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme: KCR

Asks officials to send daily reports to the CMO on the programme

• Says it is a testing time for officials, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, Ministers, village sarpanches and other public representatives
• Haritha Haram will reflect the functioning of public representatives, the CM observes

Hyderabad: Calling upon the State administration to actively take part in the Telanganaku Haritha Haram programme, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday said there was no scope for laxity till the target of Green Telangana was achieved.

The Chief Minister, after taking part in Haritha Haram at NIMS here on Monday, reviewed the Green programme from his official residence. He asked the entire machinery to actively take part in the programme and send daily reports to the CMO. He said that Haritha Haram would reflect the functioning of public representatives and suggested the official machinery not to stop until the goal was achieved.

He said that laxity on the part of earlier governments to take up afforestation resulted in radical decrease in green cover in the State. The main reason for this was the lack of vision in achieving long-term targets and lack of orientation regarding this issue. To overcome these issues, the State government had brought in Haritha Haram as a people’s movement, he said.

The Chief Minister said this was a testing time for officials, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, Ministers, village sarpanches and other public representatives. “Don’t take plantation easily. We have to give the future generations a greener Telangana. The present rainfall too is helping us and this is the right time to grow plants… do not lose this opportunity. The government will not spare any kind of laxity and will seek reports from various sources. We have started receiving reports on how officials are working.

We will disclose the names of the officials or public representatives, who are showing laxity at the appropriate time,” said Chandrashekar Rao. The Chief Minister directed the District Collectors and SPs to take part in this two-week programme effectively. All tahsildars and MPDOs should distribute villages in the mandals among themselves and take care of the planted saplings, he said.

He said that the department heads should send a report on how their staff had participated in the programme and how many saplings were planted. Local level officials had been asked to submit the reports to their principal secretaries, which would be sent to the CMO.

The Chief Minister said the government would deal with tree cutting seriously. He said that the government had already initiated steps to crack a whip on seasoned smugglers of sandalwood. The government would provide alternative livelihood to people involved in wood smuggling and keep them away from the criminal activities, he said.

He lashed out at the earlier governments for not taking any interest in tree plantation. He also targetted the Opposition parties for making a hue and cry over the programme. “Political parties which do not know what the actual budget of Haritha Haram, are talking about corruption of Rs 1,000 crore, which shows their lack of knowledge,” said Chandrashekar Rao. He asked Opposition parties to desist from criticism of a programme aimed at benefiting the future generations.