Peddapalli: Man fined of Rs 10 lakh for destroying 185 Haritha Haram plants

Peddapalli: A person was fined of Rs 10.70 lakh for destroying 185 saplings planted under Haritha Haram programme here at Peddapalli district. Ramagundam municipal authorities imposed five times the penalty for destroying the plantings under Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA), 2002.

According to the sources, the person identified as Srinivas has given one week time to pay the fine. "If failed to pay the fine, it will be recovered under the Revenue Recovery Act by seizing the property of the man.

In a similar case, another person, Osman whose goats fed on the Haritha Haram plants was imposed Rs 1.18 lakh fine which is also five times of the penalty. The municipal authorities imposed the fine after a contractor lodged a complaint that the plants were damaged by the goats.

According to the authorities, the government is spending Rs 1,180 on each plant to water and protect it. In Srinivas case, he destroyed 185 plants making a total of Rs 2.14 lakh loss to the government. The amount was multiplied five times under the WALTA act. Similarly, in the case of Osman, the amount for 20 plants has been multiplied five times.