Hyd'bad basks in World Green City award glory

Hyderabad: Et voila! Hyderabad is now more popular than Paris and Montreal in the world. Even as USA, France, Canada and other developed countries are making efforts to address climate change and environmental concerns, the eight-year long efforts made by the Telangana State government mainly the Municipal Administration and Urban Development wing in improving the city's green cover yielded amazing results.

Development of Urban parks, Haritha Haram has helped the city win the prestigious World Green City award 2022 by beating 18 cities including Paris, Bogota, Mexico City, Montreal, and Fortaleza in Brazil at the International Association of Horticulture Producers (AIPH) 2022 World Green City Awards 2022 held in Jeju Islands, South Korea.

"It is not easy to win an International World Green City award as it is a tough competition to face with the top cities from different countries. State MAUD minister KT Rama Rao has been emphasising on ensuring greenery along the Outer Ring Road. This award is a testimony to the continued efforts and focus of the Government of Telangana on increasing the green cover in the State through its flagship programme 'Telangana ku Haritha Haram".

Special Chief Secretary, MA&UD Arvind Kumar said that HMDA and Municipal administration wings in support of the state Forest department prepared the plans to improve the green cover in the city and the same was implemented in a time bound manner.

With the allocation of the Green Budget by the State government, the HMDA has been engaged in the development of urban forest parks. The Hyderabad city has topped the mega cities that gained maximum green cover with 48.66 sqkm in a decade in the country. Under Haritha Haram programme, nearly 240 crore saplings were planted in Hyderabad alone since the launch of the programme in 2015. The MAUD officials said that efforts were on to double the green cover in the next five years by taking up several initiatives like roadside plantation etc.