Government committed to protecting nature: Telangana CM

Hyderabad, June 5 The Telangana government is committed to respecting and protecting nature, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said on Thursday.

The Chief Minister, in his message on World Environment Day, called for rededication to protecting the environment.

"Let us all rededicate ourselves to understanding nature, respecting its rules and boundaries, and doing our best to bring sustainability to every aspect of our lives, private, public, individual and collective," he said.

"As a government, we are totally committed to respecting and protecting nature, through rigorous protection, rejuvenation, recycling, re-use, and sustainability," the Chief Minister said in a post on X.

"Let us all come together and strive to make Telangana the greenest, bluest, cleanest and one of the most environmentally-friendly places on Planet Earth," he added.

Minister for Environment and Forest Konda Surekha, in her message on World Environment Day, highlighted the need to protect nature and preserve life by saying no to plastic.

"You can’t drink plastic. You can’t breathe smoke. You can’t eat concrete. You can’t live without nature. This World Environment Day, let’s remember what really sustains us," she posted on social media.

As part of the World Environment Day celebrations, the Telangana Pollution Control Board organised a plantation programme at the Golconda Area Hospital in Hyderabad.

Minister for Transport and BC Welfare, Ponnam Prabhakar, who is also the in-charge minister for Hyderabad, planted a sapling.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister warned that if people ignore plantations, a situation may arise where they have to wear oxygen masks. He said that if measures were not taken to control pollution, people would suffer from various ailments.

Prabhakar said that every citizen should take up plantation as a social responsibility and should take care of the plant.

Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former minister T. Harish Rao slammed the Congress government in the state for cutting plantation funds by 53 per cent.

In his message on World Environment Day, he said he saluted the visionary leadership of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

He said that Haritha Haram, the massive plantation drive of the previous BRS government, boosted Telangana's green cover by 7.7 per cent, from 24 per cent to 31 per cent, with 250 crore saplings planted.

"We didn't just promise a greener future; we delivered. In contrast, Congress cut plantation funds by 53% (₹36Cr to ₹17Cr) and reduced targets," he posted on X.

Harish Rao alleged that the Congress government even chopped down trees at Hyderabad Central University (HCU), leading to environmental and wildlife destruction.

"Revanth Reddy's negligence is evident not only in environmental destruction but also in governance. HCU's trees fell victim to his actions," he said.

"We demand that the HCU forest be restored at the earliest, in accordance with the Honourable Supreme Court's directions," the BRS leader added.

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