The significant development of greenery and remarkable improvement of Telangana’s forest cover under the leadership of CM KCR has received yet another acknowledgement. Telangana grabbed the top spot in the Centre for Science and Environment’s ‘state of states’ environment ranking.
In the report named ‘State of India’s Environment 2023’, the state scored 7.213 out of 10 points. Telangana is the only state to score more than 70%. “Telangana has made good progress in the change in forest cover and remains among the top state in municipal waste treatment,” the report highlighted. The rankings were released based on indicators such as a change in forest cover, treatment of municipal solid wastage and sewage water, and change in installed grid renewable power.
It has to be recalled that in 2022, the city of Hyderabad has bagged the prestigious ‘World Green City Award 2022’ beating Paris, Bogota, Mexico City, Montreal, and Fortaleza in Brazil. The India State of Forest Reports has stated that the forest cover in Telangana was 19,854 sq km in 2015, which subsequently increased to 26,969 sq km in 2021, registering an increase of 7.70 per cent in forest cover from 2015 to 2021. Telangana government’s green initiatives such as ‘Haritha Haaram’, urban parks, Palle Prakruthi Vanalu, Pattana Prakruthi Vanalu, etc., have led to an outstanding improvement of green cover in the state.