Protecting saplings made mandatory

Hyderabad: The Panchayat Raj legislation enacted by the Telangana state government empowers the panchayat secretary to penalise house owners who have failed to protect saplings supplied by the panchayat for planting with a penalty of an amount equal to the property tax.

Apart from the rural areas, this will also apply to many areas on the city’s outskirts which are covered by gram panchayats.

The state government brought in the New Panchayat Raj Act 2018 with stringent provisions to maintain cleanliness and greenery in the villages. The Act mandates the panchayat secretary to plant trees as per local needs in and around the village and ensure that a minimum of 85 per cent survive. A register must be maintained to record the plantation and survival of the plants.

For household plantations the Act stipulates that the panchayat secretary should supply minimum six saplings to every house owner and it is the owner’s obligation to plant these saplings and protect them.

The Act further stipulates that in the event of a house owner failing to comply with this requirement on inspection by the panchayat secretary, a penalty of an amount equal to the property tax shall be imposed by the gram panchayat on the house owner.

To maintain cleanliness in villages, the Act has empowered the gram panchayat to impose Rs 5,000 penalty on any person responsible for allowing filth to flow onto public roads etc.