Hyderabad, Oct 14,2022:  Hyderabad has won the overall ‘World Green City Award 2022’ and another award in the category ‘Living Green for Economic Recovery and Inclusive Growth’ at the International Association of Horticulture Producers (AIPH) 2022 World Green City Awards 2022 held in Jeju, South Korea on Friday.

AIPH invited entries for ‘World Green Cities Awards 2022’ across six categories. A total of 18 finalists across six categories were selected and final category wise winners were announced on Friday.

The 6 categories and shortlisted countries are Living Green for Biodiversity (Columbia, Australia, France), Living Green for Climate Change (Turkey, Australia, Mexico), Living Green for Health and Wellbeing (Brazil, Netherlands, Australia), Living Green for Water (Canada, Australia, South Africa), Living Green for Social Cohesion (Argentina, South Korea, France) and Living Green for Economic Recovery & Inclusive Growth (Canada, Iran, India).

Hyderabad is the only Indian city that was selected and it is a matter of pride that Hyderabad has won not only the category award but the overall ‘World Green City 2022’ award that is the best across all six categories, the state government said.

In the category ‘Living Green for Economic Recovery and Inclusive Growth’, the greening of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) was submitted as Hyderabad’s entry. The category focuses on creating systems and solutions that allow all city residents to overcome economic distress and thrive and the ORR greenery called as ‘Green Necklace to the State of Telangana’ was adjudged the best in this category.

Minister for municipal administration K.T. Rama Rao congratulated entire Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) team and Special Chief Secretary, MA&UD, Arvind Kumar, for this achievement.

Rama Rao has been emphasising on ensuring greenery along the ORR and under the guidance of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, massive greenery efforts have been undertaken.

This award is a testimony to the continued efforts and focus of the government of Telangana on increasing the green cover in the state through its flagship programme ‘Telangana ku Haritha Haram’ (TKHH), the government said.