Siddipet: A man was caught cutting a tree planted under 'Telangana Ku Haritha Haram' when construction work was disrupted. A fine of Rs 10,000 has been imposed on the person by the police. Officer Ilaiah said the tree planted under 'Haritha Haram', an afforestation program initiated by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, was cut down by Puramshetty Shiv Kumar of Ward No 1, as it was disrupting the construction work. On coming to know about the incident, the Municipal Commissioner lodged a complaint with the police and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. He said that whoever is found cutting the saplings planted under the afforestation program will be fined.

On September 29, Forest Department officials imposed a fine of Rs 4 lakh on a construction firm for cutting 65 trees at Chilkur in Moinabad division. Forest officials said, the realtor was removing trees for the development of the site and was asked to pay a fine of Rs 4 lakh. The fine was imposed under the provisions of the Walta Act. The 'Haritha Haram' program was launched by Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao on 3 July 2015. It is one of the flagship programs of Telangana to rejuvenate degraded forests to protect these forests from threats like smuggling, encroachment, fire and grazing.

It adopted intensive soil and moisture conservation measures based on a watershed approach. Large scale plantation activities were to be taken up in areas outside the existing forest like areas. The National Forest Policy of India envisages a minimum of 33% of the total geographical area under forest cover to maintain environmental sustainability and ecological balance, which is vital for the sustenance of all life-forms, be it human or animal.

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