Telangana to use drones for afforestation under ‘Hara Bahara’ campaign

The Telangana government has partnered with Marut Drones, a Hyderabad start-up, to launch a drone-based afforestation project named as “Hara Bahara".

The joint initiative of the ITE&C and Forest Departments is touted as India’s first such kind of project, planting 50 lakh trees in about 12,000 hectares of forest land across all the 33 districts of Telangana.

The Seedcopter Drone by Marut Drones was unveiled along with the poster launch of “Hara Bahara” campaign on Monday. The aerial seeding is for rapid and scalable reforestation.

“The project uses drones to disperse seed balls over thin, barren and empty forest lands to turn them into lush green abodes of trees. The process begins with a field survey and mapping of the terrain area to understand the ecosystem and demarcate the areas needing urgent attention. This is used to determine the number and species of trees that can be planted in the barren land based on the soil, climate, and other parameters. The seed balls are prepared by the local women and welfare communities, which are dispersed via drones in the targeted areas. Further, the area is continuously monitored to track the growth of plants sown,” officials said.

“Forests are essential to maintain a clean and habitable environment for human life, and emerging technologies have potential to support the afforestation efforts,” IT, Industries Minister K T Rama Rao said during the launch at the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.