Status: 17.11.2022 00:33
Hyderabad is one of the fastest growing cities in India. And yet Hyderabad celebrates itself as a green metropolis and receives awards for it. How does that go together?
Priyanka Varghese was not happy when she had to leave her native Kerala in southern India. The official was transferred to the ten million metropolis Hyderabad in the state of Telangana further north. You should take over a gigantic environmental project. Their mission: to ecologically advance the province in the interior of the country.
She was skeptical at first, she reports: “How should that work? How should I turn a dry patch of earth into a green oasis?” Varghese took on the project anyway.
For the past eight years she has been in charge of what she claims to be the third largest reforestation program in the world. Under her direction, 2.7 billion tree seedlings were planted in the state. The woman with the special order should involve 30 departments of the government agencies in Telangana and convince 12,800 decentralized administrative units.
The municipalities had to identify free areas for planting. Nurseries distributed tree seedlings free of charge. A very simple principle:
When you go to the temple, church or mosque for prayer, you will be given a tree seedling to plant. If you fill up your propane gas bottle for the kitchen, a plant is included. Pupils plant trees in their school,” Varghese describes the procedure.
Tedious process of persuasion
Nevertheless, Varghese had to contend with headwinds. “Once you’re convinced of the benefits, the others are far from being,” she says. Only 30 percent of the tree seedlings survived in the first years of the project.
The biggest challenge is “to inspire people to take care of the trees in the long term. If they don’t participate, the entire project won’t work”.
The state finally held the local administrations accountable. They have to ensure that 85 percent of the tree seedlings survive, otherwise they have to pay a fine. The equivalent of a fine of more than 600 euros was set for felling a tree and 67 euros for tearing off a branch.
Hyderabad is proud of its greenery – but the city also knows that it needs to be cared for.
Image: ARD New Delhi
Industry and citizens must participate
Telangana and the central government in New Delhi are providing a budget for the reforestation of the 2.7 billion trees. Industrial companies must participate. This year, Telangana introduced an eco-tax for citizens to cover the cost of further planting.
Since 2015, the state’s forested area has increased from 24 to 33 percent, officials said. Thousands of trees were planted in derelict, industrial and residential areas. Streets – including multi-storey ones – were planted, parks were expanded and vertical gardens were laid out.
The consequences can be felt in Hyderabad. According to the University of Telangana, the groundwater level has risen by 40 percent. And fine dust pollution fell in Hyderabad. The metropolis of ten million is one of the fastest growing megacities in India.
The new trees grow in tree nurseries – in the end their number should be in the billions.
Image: ARD New Delhi
A price and criticism
For its efforts, Hyderabad received the 2022 World Green City Award in October in the category of “Green Living for Economic Recovery and Inclusive Growth”. But the project is not without controversy.
Vandana Shiva, one of India’s best-known environmental activists, notes that reforestation projects of this magnitude “always result in conflicts with the indigenous people of India.” There have already been several protests by the Adivasi. The natives resist reforestation on their territory.
Authorities have used force to attempt to plant the land, an Adivasi spokesman said. “Reforestation must also be examined for its ecological sustainability and multifunctionality,” says environmental activist Shiva.