Schools in Hyderabad show red to greenery drive

Hyderabad: Private educational institutions, which are hiking fees on one pretext or the other, are not showing the same level of enthusiasm when it comes to social responsibility initiatives. A classic example is the lukewarm response to the Haritha Haaram, the state government’s greenery drive, from schools and colleges in GHMC and HMDA limits.

The government has chalked out plans to plant nearly 40 crore saplings in the coming monsoon to improve the green cover in the 10 districts of the state. A little over 100 private institutions have come forward to take part in the drive.

Nearly 6 lakh saplings have been earmarked for planting in 53 private schools and colleges as well as 133 government institutions, according to urban forestry wing of GHMC.

“Thousands of saplings could be planted in colleges, especially engineering colleges, spread over big tracts of lands. They just need to give an intent for the number of saplings required and the government would supply them free. They should turn up voluntarily,” a senior official said.

The HMDA plans to plant three crore saplings outside the GHMC limits, especially on either side of the Outer Ring Road. Here, too, the response is dissatisfactory.

“The total number of educational institutions is less than 150, in which there are more government schools and colleges. We are trying to reach out to engineering colleges in person, requesting them to back the good cause,” an HMDA urban forestry official said.

This callous attitude has angered the Haritha Haaram officials, who are urging the government to take to task private institutions and make them fall in line.
“The managements should think about the well being of scores of students in their institutions and the advantages that come with the greenery drive.

Initiatives such as planting of saplings and construction of rainwater harvesting pits are a must to protect the environment and there is no better place than educational institutions to inculcate good habits in students,” said IFS officer Manoranjan Banja. The picture is different in the rest of the state. As many as 3,171 schools and colleges have sought saplings to plant in their campuses.

Schools taught a simple lesson
Private managements are pointing to the “af-ter care” process as the main reason behind the slow response to Haritha Haaram.

“Saplings should be watered and taken care of on daily basis. This requires additional staff and ground water problem is also there,” a college owner said.
Officials have a solution. Students of the college could be given responsibility of the saplings planted in the institution.

“Each sapling should be allotted to one or two students and their names should be printed on the tree guard. Their job would be to pour two to three mugs of water every day at least till the plants show growth. Then the baton should be passed on to the next batch of students,” said IFS officer Manoranjan Banja, who is associated with Haritha Haaram.

The Telangana Private Engineering and Professional College Managements Associa-tion has volunteered to join the drive. Association president N. Gou-tham Rao said he would act as a bridge between colleges and government to ensure the success of this scheme. “Colleges need to be motivated about the huge benefits from this scheme and I would do whatever needed in this regard,” he added.