The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is planning to plant at least 50,000 trees during 2020-21, as part of the Telangana government's flagship 'Haritha Haram' scheme to increase green cover in the state.
The GHMC on Monday said that it would take up the plantations under various categories like 'Avenue Plantations', 'Colony Plantations', 'Institutional Plantations', Open Space Plantations' and so on. The plantation would be taken up evenly across all zones of the civic body.
"This year, plantations will be taken up in an organised manner along all the roads in all zones. Dense plantations will be done on the bunds of all lakes in the GHMC area. Planting will also be done along 'nalas' (storm water drains) and along the Musi River," the GHMC said in a press note.
It also said that plans had been made to convert open spaces into 'tree parks' with walking tracks. For planting saplings in colonies, the help of Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) will be taken.
Stating that it was adopting the 'Miyawaki' method, named after a Japanese botanist who helped build forests, the GHMC said that it would plant trees, hedges and shrubs under flyovers on medians to increase the green cover of the city.
The GHMC also plans to develop three urban forest parks at Suraram, Madannaguda and Nadergul, where dense plantations with native forest trees will come up along with other amenities.
Haritha Haram is a scheme introduced by the K Chandrasekhar Rao government, to increase the total forest cover in the state to 33%.
All the departments in the state government are stakeholders in the initiative. Each department has been given a set target of planting saplings and ensuring their survival, so that the larger goal is met. The government has spent several crore rupees on the scheme.