KTR selected for coveted ‘Green Leadership Award’

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao has been selected for the prestigious ‘Green Leadership Award 2025’, to be presented later this month in New York, USA.

The award recognises his role in spearheading sustainable governance and environmental transformation across Telangana. The award will be conferred at the 9th NYC Green School Conference scheduled on September 24 in New York City. In an official communication, the organisers formally confirmed his selection.

“On behalf of Green Mentors, it is a privilege to confirm your selection as the recipient of the Green Leadership Award 2025,” the letter stated. During his tenure as Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, KTR oversaw some of the most ambitious environmental initiatives in India. A target of 10 crore saplings was set, with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) developing 977 parks across the city.

The government also established 108 lung spaces and theme parks, along with rain gardens, landscape gardens, and vertical gardens. Massive efforts were undertaken in institutional plantations, colony and street plantations, median and avenue plantations, significantly enhancing Telangana’s green footprint.

Hyderabad emerged as a global example in environmental governance under this drive. The city bagged the prestigious World Green Cities Award, and became the only Indian city to be recognised as a ‘Tree City of the World’ by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Overall, Telangana’s green cover expanded from 24% to 33% across both rural and urban areas during former CM K. Chandrashekar Rao’s tenure. These achievements positioned Telangana as a frontrunner in ecological conservation and a model for climate-resilient governance globally.