Adilabad: Haritha Haram to be launched on July 3 is the  third biggest sapling plantation programme in the world. Minister for forests and environment Jogu Ramanna claimed that Haritha Haram under which 230 crore saplings to be planted is the third biggest saplings planting programme in the world after China which planted 800 crore saplings and Brazil with 400 crore saplings in the past.
 
The state government is planting 40.19 crore saplings in the first phase of Haritha Haram.  As many as 100 crore saplings out of 230 crore will be raised in the forest areas in the state to improve green cover. Officials say that it was for the first time a state government is taking up Haritha Haram, a massive saplings plantation drive in the world. Mr Jogu Ramanna had interacted with the officials of China and Brazil during his South Korea visit to participate in UN convention on Bio-diversity (COP 12) in eastern city of Pyeongchang in South Korea in October 2014.
 
Mr Jogu Ramanna said the state government was  committed to improve the green cover after realising that there are many benefits with the forests and added that we learnt this from South Korea which improved its forest cover to 82 per cent from 15 percent in 1945. The state government constituted village level biodiversity committees as part of ‘Mana Vuru Mana Pranalika’ to maintain ecological balance.