Telangana spreads net for Haritha Nidhi

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Friday announced the creation of Telangana Haritha Nidhi (Telangana Green Fund) with contributions from MPs, MLAs, MLCs, IAS, IPS, IFS officials and state government employees every month. The contributions will be deducted from their salaries. Besides, a one-time contribution will be collected from students at the time of their admission.

Replying to a short discussion on Haritha Haram in the Assembly, the Chief Minister said that Haritha Nidhi was aimed at bringing a sense of participation among all sections of society towards improving green cover and protecting the environment. He said the funds thus mobilised would be utilised for effective implementation of the Haritha Haram programme.

All members, cutting across party lines, welcomed the Chief Minister’s initiative and expressed their willingness to contribute to the fund.

Accordingly, Rs 500 will be deducted from the salaries of MPs, MLAs and MLCs every month, while Rs 100 will be deducted from zilla parishad chairpersons, mayors of municipal corporations, Rs 50 from municipal chairpersons, MPPs, ZPTCs and Rs 10 from municipal councillors, sarpanchs, MPTCs and corporators.

IAS, IPS, IFS officers have agreed to contribute Rs 100 each every month. The state government employees announced a contribution of Rs 25 each every month. All contractors who undertake government works have to contribute 0.1 per cent of their contract value to the fund.

The Chief Minister stated that these contributions would fetch around Rs 30 crore every year. This apart, the Chief Minister announced that 10 per cent of the constituency development fund (CDF) should be transferred to the green fund. The government will collect an additional Rs 50 from every transaction during all registrations such as property, vehicle registrations etc. It will also collect Rs 1,000 towards green fund during renewal of licences for business establishments.

Maintaining that the role of students was crucial in improving green cover and protecting environment, the Chief Minister said nominal contributions would be collected from students at the time of admissions for green fund to bring in a sense of participation in state government's green initiatives.

Rs 10 will be collected from each student at the time of admissions in schools, Rs 15 during Intermediate admissions, Rs 25 during degree admissions and Rs 100 during professional courses admissions.

"The TRS government has launched Haritha Haram in 2015 with an aim to plant 230 crore trees through rejuvenation of forests and plantation of new saplings, avenue and multi-layer plantations, and also development of urban and rural lung spaces. So far, around 237.42 crore saplings have been planted in the state since 2015, with an expenditure of Rs 6,556 crore. The programme achieved good results with green cover in the state increasing by over 3.67 percent within three years till 2017. The survival rate of saplings is also higher ranging from 80 to 95 per cent. The programme surpassed all our targets," Rao added.