Green drive halted as temperature rises
State issues orders not to move saplings from nurseries
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-07-10 07:42 GMT
Khammam: The increasing temperatures and dry spell forced the officials supervising Haritha Haram to postpone planting the saplings in the present condition. There is also a directive from the government not to move saplings from the nurseries because the plants would not sustain long due to the increasing temperatures.
So the officials would limit the Haritha Haram just to create awareness about the programme among the people and there will be no planting of the saplings in a big way. The government decided to plant 3.61 crore saplings as part of the programme during monsoon.
Interestingly, the officials are able to plant 20 lakh saplings so far and it has been decided that the remaining saplings will be planted after he second spell of rain. The plantation of saplings will continue till the end of north-western monsoon.
An official said, “The saplings which are being raised by pouring water daily in different nurseries are drying up after planting due to lack of moisture in the soil and increasing temperatures, which is hovering around 36 degree Celsius. In such a situation, the officials changed the schedule of the programme.
The programme which commenced on July 3 is supposed to end on July 10 but it has been halted on Thursday, a day ahead of the schedule. The officials, who are busy with the Pushkaralu arrangements, heaved a sigh of relief with the government’s decision. The forest department, which is the nodal agency of the programme, should restart the plantation after rains in the district.