Hyderabad|India|August'2009: As a part of development of greenery in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the Commissioner & Special Officer, Sri S.P. Singh directed the officials to develop colony parks and theme parks besides playgrounds for the convenience of children and youth in the identified vacant lands.

The Commissioner in a review meeting on the development of Parks and playfields in GHMC jurisdiction said during last two years, the Corporation has identified a total of 2,209 open places in the city and constructed compound walls to many such places. About 1700 acres of land was thus protected in the city and it is proposed to develop playfields and parks in open places, he said. The Corporation has undertaken GIS mapping of all GHMC Parks and open places for better utilization, he said.

He asked the Urban Forestry wing officials to work in close coordination with the government departments like HMDA, Forest and involve all other interested public sector and private institutions to improve the greenery and eco profile of the city.

The Commissioner directed the Urban Forestry wing to complete the works of 85 colony parks which are in various stages of development should be completed on war footing. He said the GHMC has planned to set up about 6 Nurseries in addition to the existing 16 nurseries to meet the requirement of avenue and flowering plants.

The Additional Commissioner, Parks Sri M. Rajeswara Rao said the GHMC has so far developed over 353 Parks, out of which 321 are colony parks, 13 are city level and 7 theme parks. About 173 Colony Parks are being maintained by Colony Welfare Associations with the cooperation of GHMC Urban Forestry.

Additional Commissioners’ Sri K. Bhaskhar, Sri T. Muralidhar, Sri K. Sudhakar, Sri Venkatrama Reddy, Sri Balasubramanyam Reddy, Sri Ram Narayana Reddy, Ms.Anuradha, Ms. Shivaparvati, Sri Subba Rao, Chief City Planner, Sri Purushotham Reddy, Chief Engineer Sri R. Dhan Singh and Director, Urban Forestry Sri Krishna Murthy and others attended.