Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao formally launched the third phase of Haritha Haram programme in Karimnagar today with an aim to plant over 40 crore saplings. KCR planted a mahogany sapling at Lower Manair Dam along with Finance Minister Etela Rajender.

Minister of IT K T Rama Rao planted saplings at Botanical Gardens along with Home Minister Nayani Narsimha Reddy in Hyderabad. KTR asked the opposition parties to participate in the program.

Despite KCR’s call for ‘one day one lakh saplings’, the authorities decided to plant 15000 saplings today in Karimnagar with 10,000 students planting along the shores of the LMD reservoir with the CM, while another 5,000 plantlets would be rooted in all the 50 municipal divisions.

The government has set a target to plant 230 crore saplings by 2019 as part of flagship programme Telangana Ku Haritha Haram. As much as Rs 1,700 crore was spent so far. However, only 16 crore saplings were planted in 2015-16, in the following year 2016-17, another 31 crore saplings were rooted. This year the government is planning to plant 40 crore saplings.