60-day action plan in Telangana for better green cover: KCR

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Thursday said the Telangana government was preparing a special 60-day action plan for villages and towns in a bid to improve hygiene and tree cover, and to change the attitude of people towards the environment they live in.

Unhygienic conditions are the root cause for ill-health, weather in villages or towns. The government will release funds from the Finance Commission grants before the start of the 60-day action programme to the local bodies. Officials and public representatives, with participation from people, should change the very way lives are lead in villages and towns, he said.

In his Independence Day speech at Golconda Fort, the Chief Minister said the programme’s first phase will focus on improving sanitation. “We all know that cleanliness is next to godliness and God



manifests only where there is cleanliness. Dirty surroundings are a symbol of ill-health and uncivility, and poor people become victims of unhealthy environment,” he said.

As part of the 60-day programme, civil society organisations with the participation of people should work towards clearing garbage. Once the programme is completed, villages and towns should stay clean, he said. The government decided to release funds from the Finance Commission grants before the commencement of the 60-day action programme to the local bodies.

Among the action to be taken is removal of weeds, dilapidated houses, sewerage and waste water accumulation, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “We should remove all these during the programme and also fill abandoned borewells,” he said.