With 276 cr plants, Telangana is only next to China, Brazil in record green cover: KCR

THUMMALUR (RANGAREDDY): Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has said that Telangana, which was without greenery nine years ago, had achieved 7.7 percent of green cover since then by growing 276 crore plants.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion of ‘Haritha Utsavam’, celebrated as a part of the decennial celebrations of the formation of Telangana at Thummalur forest park on Monday, June 19, 2023, the chief minister said that only China with 500-crore plants and Brazil with 300-crore plants could achieve such recognition.

“Congress leaders used to laugh at my ideas on increasing green cover. When we took over the reins of Telangana there was dryness everywhere. The forests were decimated and groundwater depleted,” he said.

He said that his efforts through ‘Telangana Ku Haritha Haram’ had paid dividends and the state achieved a record green cover. He reminded the audience that making sarpanches responsible for planting trees in open government lands made the difference, despite the initial resistance from the local leaders. He said that panchayats would be granted added incentives to encourage more plantation of trees.

Elaborating on improving water availability through green cover, he said that forest cover not only improved air quality but also increased groundwater levels. “Now truck drivers easily recognise the beginning of the Telangana territory with greenery and the borders of the next state with dryness,” he noted.

KCR said that increased availability of water with timely rains, improved storage capacity of water bodies with the help of Mission Kakatiya and increased acreage through Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) had made Telangana the top paddy producer in the country. “The state that ridiculed us saying its people taught us how to eat rice, is now seventh in the country in paddy production and nowhere near us,” the Chief Minister commented.

“I assure the Maheswaram, Ibrahimpatnam, Tandur and Parigi areas that I will bring water from Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project within a few months and transform this area into a prosperous region,” he declared, adding that 85 percent of the work was complete and filling of reservoirs would take place in August.

He criticised the Congress party for creating obstacles for the completion of the Palamuru-Rangareddy project through a series of litigations in the Supreme Court. “The Congress was resorting to politics that would hurt the interests of the state which was deprived of water for decades,” KCR said.

He also assured the people that the drinking water supply to the outskirts of Hyderabad, particularly in the Rangareddy district, would be augmented with water from River Godavari. The water would be drawn from the Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project by linking it with Himayatsagar and Gandipet, he added.

Hands over appointment letter to forest ranger’s widow

 Earlier, the Chief Minister handed over an appointment letter as Deputy Tahsildar to Ch Bhagyalakshmi, widow of Ch Srinivasa Rao. a forest range officer who was killed by Guttikoya tribals for objecting to ‘Podu cultivation’.

The Chief Minister also announced that the forest vigil would be improved with more police stations to protect sincere forest officers from poachers and also by reorganising the existing security blanket.

 The Chief Minister also granted a medical college to Maheswaram, promised Metro train service between Shamshabad and Maheswaram, Metro extension from LB Nagar to BHEL and an electrical substation to Thummalur on this occasion.