Public money being swindled in name of Haritha Haram

Hyderabad: Organised loot has allegedly been going on in the name of Telanganaku Haritha Haram within in the city, going by information revealed by officials belonging to various departments in the GHMC.

Nodal agencies, including the GHMC and the HMDA have taken up raising of nurseries with saplings of avenue, fruit, herbal, medicinal and flowering plants. These are to be planted along major roads, minor stretches, central medians, in colonies, along lake peripheries and nalas, and on open spaces.

For the purpose, 600 nurseries have been raised in all zones of the GHMC. They have been geo-tagged and their information uploaded on Telangana Government Forest Management Information System website.

Highly placed sources told to Deccan Chronicle that though sufficient number of plants were available in their nurseries, some zonal commissioners, hand-in-glove with field staff, informed higher authorities that a few rare plants are unavailable. As a result, they had to be procured from outside.
For instance, officials have been procuring konda chinta (Peltophorum pterocarpum), gulmohar (Delonix regia), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), neem (Azadirachta indica), peepal (Ficus religiosa), flame of the forest (Butea monosperma) at a cost of `120 apiece when their actual market price is only `20. Moreover, these plants are very much available within the government nurseries themselves, sources saqid. Such illegal procurement has been going on right from the launch of Haritha Haram programme.

Fake bills are allegedly being produced indicating 10 times the saplings’ price as per the forest scheduled rates (FSR). Higher officials are informed that the procurement is through floating tenders. A top source said roughly 30 per cent funds of total ` 5,900 crore spent on Haritha Haram ever since its launch have been swindled.

Despite attempts, officials of GHMC and HMDA could not be contacted for their comment.

According to available information, the civic body has a target of planting 25 lakh plants in each zone to by raising total 1.5 crore plants during 2021. Against the target of planting 3.2 crore saplings since commencement of Haritha Haram programme, GHMC has planted 2.76 crore saplings till 2020, achieving 86 per cent of the target.