81.81 Sq.km green cover to 760 colony parks: Hyderabad bags `World Green City Award'

Hyderabad: Hyderabad has added another feather to its cap by winning the World Green City Award 2022. The award has been instituted by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH Global).

The city won the highest accolade for Telangana Ku Haritha Haram (Green Garland to the State of Telangana).

"Due to intensive plantations raised in Hyderabad city over the last six years, the environment improved a lot. The annual cumulative rainfall from June 1, 2021, to March 11, 2022, is far higher than that of the state's cumulative rainfall. Improvements are seen in groundwater level and there is an abatement of air, and noise pollution," AIPH noted.

It further noted that the resident associations of the city have raised plantations at their homes & colonies adopting 760 colony parks and their maintenance. "Remarkable increase in the green cover noticed as per FSI report by 48.66 Sq. Km. i.e., from 33.15 Sq. Km in 2011 to 81.81 Sq. Km in 2021. Importantly, the aim is to inculcate the right attitude towards trees and green environment in the younger generation," AIPH added.

In the initial round, there were 18 entries. In the second round, the grand winner was announced from a list of six winning cities. The other five cities that won the category titles are Bogota DC in Columbia, Mexico City, Fortaleza in Brazil, Montreal in Canada, and Paris in France.

"AIPH celebrates this fantastic achievement for the city of Hyderabad. We are proud to showcase their inspiring urban greening work. With this global recognition, we can confidently say that Hyderabad is a world leader in nature-oriented approaches to city design, form, and function," said Tim Briercliffe, Secretary General, AIPH.

"The innovation, ambition, and inspiring action demonstrated in the city's entry leaves a powerful legacy for other cities from around the world to aspire to," he added.

Arvind Kumar, Special Chief Secretary, MAUD Telangana tweeted, "Hyderabad wins 'World Green City Awards 2022" award for greening the ORR project in the living green category and gets prestigious overall grand award at Jeju S Korea, only city from India and huge endorsement to Haritha Haram initiative of Telangana CMO and KTR."