‘Barren hill afforestation’, an important component of the ‘Haritha Haaram’ initiative of the Telangana government to ensure vegetation on barren hills, has remained a non-starter after two-and-a-half months into the programme due to confusion over ownership of land.
Planting the barren hills in various districts of the Telangana is part of the efforts initiated under the social forestry segment of the ‘Haritha Haaram’. Other drives which are part of the segment include avenue plantation, river and canal bank plantations, tank bunds and foreshore areas, institutional premises, religious places, housing colonies and abandoned lands.
Under the initiative, it is envisaged to plant a total of 955 hectares on the hillocks shorn of their greenery, from all the nine districts of the State, except Hyderabad. However, so far, only eight per cent of the total planned area has been planted, officials informed.
“We have been asked to plant 100 hectares per district by the year end, but could achieve only 77 hectares so far. Absence of data about barren hills without encumbrances is hindering the project,” an official from the Forest department informed.
The hillocks to be planted are outside the forest area, and hence come under the Revenue Department’s purview. To complicate the matters further, respective district administrations have even allotted housing sites to the poor on them, making it further difficult for the department to take any initiative, the official informed.
“We initially thought of cordoning off the entire hillocks by digging trenches, as we have been doing with regard to forests, so that they will be inaccessible for cattle browsing. But we had to abandon it as there would be objections from the owners in case of private lands, and it will raise right of way issues,” he said. As per ‘Haritha Haaram’130 crore seedlings from a total of 230 crore ought to be planted outside the notified forest areas, which includes barren hills.
