GHMC to restore pots at HiTec City for IT meet

Animal-shaped plantholders and plants, removed after the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, would be restored in view of the World IT Conference (WCIT). Several hundreds of plants from vertical gardens and about 58 plant-holders had been stolen from Hitex, Kondapur Gachibowli Road.

A GHMC official said, "In Madhapur, only three plants were recovered from a person’s house and about 100 of small pots removed from the vertical garden were recovered from a slum in Izzatnagar."

Cases had been registered against thefts in Madhapur, Raidurgam and Gachibowli police stations, but no animalshaped plant-holders has been recovered yet.

The pot-holders, costing about `6,000 each, were reportedly stolen in Innovas as they were about 4-ft high and weighed about 10 kg each. While police from Madhapur and Gachibowli were investigating the issue, GHMC was working in co-ordination with the Cyberabad police to instal CCTV cameras before putting up the plants again.

While GHMC would be apparently paying for the CCTV cameras, police officials would be monitoring them.

GHMC West Zone commissioner Harichandana Dasari said, "Once the CCTV cameras are in place, we will place the pots and fix them permanently to the ground. These will be put up before the IT conference commences."

The plant-holders were purchased using donations made by several private firms in Cyberabad as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR).