CM launches drive to plant 1L saplings as part of green

Telangana Chief Minister K Chadrasekhar Rao today launched a drive to plant 1,00,116 saplings in his assembly constituency of Gajwel near here as part of the state government's green campaign 'Haritha Haram'.

Rao planted a sapling at Gajwel and a siren was blown to begin the plantation drive in the town.

Though planting of 1,00,116 saplings was proposed, 1,36,588 were planted, covering all areas within the municipal limits of Gajwel, official sources said.

Earlier, on his way to Gajwel, Rao visited the Singayapalli reserve forest area and went around the place.

He asked forest department officials to form 'green battalions' for protection of greenery and forests in Telangana, an official release said.

The Chief Minister suggested that help from the state police be taken for the purpose, it said.

Appreciating the steps taken for protecting the forest area, he said a visit to the place by MLAs should be arranged.

The 'Haritha Haram' (green necklace) campaign was launched with the aim of increasing green cover in the state from the present 24 per cent to 33 per cent.

Under the programme, which began in 2015-16, 81.60 crore saplings had been planted in three phases till 2017-18.

The target is to plant 40 crore saplings in the fourth phase (2018-19).