From barren to green: How Narsingi ORR was transformed in lockdown

Hyderabad: A long pending dream of 'Greener Hyderabad’ seems to be inching towards reality after the Telangana government utilized a two-month-long lockdown to transform a barren unkempt swathe of land at Outer Ring Road (ORR) near Narsingi into a lush green space.

Thanks to Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), the ORR has become a new address for people looking for greener spaces to bask in nature.

“The plan was to beautify interchanges which witnessed heavy traffic. One place that was chosen was the ORR belt from Gachibowli to Shamshabad, where there were patches beside the road that looked ugly. We wanted to make these spaces look greener by the end of lockdown,” said Santhosh BM, Project Director of the Outer Ring Road and Managing Director of HGCL.

Two months on, HGCL has created a history by “regenerating lung spaces” along the Narsingi ORR. “We have used block plantation method in most of these places instead of turfing. While turfing refers to a lawn-like space, block plantation refers to planting trees after every two feet along the roadside,” he said.

Turfs or lawns require regular watering and upkeep, while block plantation is considered more ‘natural’ involving a low maintenance cost. "Turfing has been done only at those places which are visible to commuters. Block plantation has been done at most of the places. We have used local plant species provided by the urban forest wing,” he said.

Buoyed by the success of Narsingi experiment, HGCL is aiming to increase green spaces along the 158-km stretch of the ORR. “It is not just about the beautification, but about the regeneration of lung spaces”, he said.

Meanwhile, road construction works worth Rs 1,500 crore is underway in Hyderabad, according to Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary, Urban Telangana.