Telangana committed to promoting green buildings: KTR

HYDERABAD: Continuing its efforts to adopt green practices, the Telangana Government was setting up Swachh Badis in 141 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to promote the importance of sustainable practices among students, said Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday.

Speaking after inaugurating India’s first Green Property show at Hitex in Hyderabad, KTR said that these schools would help students to learn about waste to energy, energy efficient practices and other initiatives and make them conscious about green contributions towards saving the environment. “Telangana Government is pleased to be a State partner with IGBC to host India’s first Green Property Show, promoting Green Homes, Buildings and Products,” KTR said.

The MA&UD minister appreciated CII-IGBC for spearheading the Green Building Movement in India since 2001, leading to India becoming one of the top three countries in terms of registered green building footprint.Highlighting the initiatives taken by the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to support green initiatives in Telangana, KTR said that India’s first Green Building, Green Home, Green Airport, Green Railway Station and Green Factory Building, all these structures exist in Telangana.

KTR said that the State Government was walking the path of green by implementing sustainability measures in the new Secretariat Building, T-Hub, T-Works, Integrated Command Control Centre and new integrated collectorate complexes across Telangana. He added the new hospitals, healthcare campuses, Industrial Parks and IT Towers would also be Green certified. “Not just buildings and campuses, our cities, Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam and Karimnagar are already adopting the IGBC Green Cities rating. I am sure our cities will set a world class benchmark for all the other cities adopting sustainable principles,” KTR said.

Stating about the Telangana Government’s flagship programme Haritha Haram, the MA&UD minister said that the programme had aided in increasing the Green cover by 7.7 percent in the State with the support from CII-IGBC through large-scale plantation drives. “The focus is also on promoting green principles in rural areas, with Gangadevipally village in Warangal was the first to achieve the IGBC Green Village Platinum rating, inspiring other villages to adopt sustainable practices. At least 1,000 villages in Telangana will follow in the footsteps of Gangadevipally in ensuring more green villages,” KTR said.

Referring to the Green Affordable Housing in Telangana, KTR said that the State Government always had sustainable economic development high on its agenda and is adopting a multi-pronged approach to taking this agenda forward. Telangana would soon have more than 50 percent of its population in urban areas and the state government is making all efforts to make the capital, Hyderabad, a global city through various programmes, the minister said.