Hyderabad: Creating a whispering forest for memories

Hyderabad: In order to increase the city's green cover, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has come up with the idea of lending space to citizens to plant a sapling in memory of someone or to commemorate an event.

To plant a tree to celebrate your marriage or birthday or in memory of the dead is a good thing, but it won’t come for free. The GHMC will however include the price of the sapling and a board displaying the details, and will also look after the plant. Open vacant land of seven acres is slated for phase one.

Director of GHMC’s Urban Biodiversity department, V. Damodar, says the tradition of planting a sapling in memory of someone or some event is an age-old practice and done in Telangana too. It will increase the greenery and maintain urban biodiversity of Hyderabad. “It can be a massive forestation plan to improve the green cover,” he said.

The scheme will start in June and last through the monsoons. “We are looking at online bookings with regard to the plants. The fee will be fixed later. Citizens are welcome to bring their own sapling or buy it from GHMC nurseries - there are over 45 of them in the city,” Mr Damodar said.  

The landscaping will be done by the corporation. The department is targeting seven open spaces of 10 acres each, mostly in the peripheral zone, added the director.