New Delhi: A shepherd in Telangana was fined Rs 9,000 after his goats ate three saplings that were planted as part of the government’s ‘Haritha Haram’ drive to increase the state’s forest cover.According to The News Minute, the fine was issued by municipal authorities in Yellandu town of Bhadradri Kothagudem district after Yellandu Municipality commissioner A. Srinivas Reddy “witnessed the goats eating the plants” on July 24.All three goats were “taken into custody” and confined at a civic body office, while the owner, L. Bothu, was asked to pay a Rs 9,000 fine to collect them. Civic authorities told The News Minute that they are empowered to take actions to safeguard public property, claiming the fine was part of this endeavour. According to officials in the town, fines worth Rs 60,000 have been levied from owners of animals which were damaging saplings and trees planted in public places in the past three-four months.Commissioner Srinivas Reddy said that the government authorities have already carried out “massive campaigns through social media and wall posters”, requesting people to preserve trees. These campaigns also cautioned people that damaging trees would attract fines, he claimed. “Such fines will be continued [if animals damage trees],” he said.According to The News Minute, in September 2019, the Huzurabad police in Karimnagar district ‘arrested’ two goats because they were grazing on saplings planted by a local non-governmental organisation. They were let off after the owner paid a fine of Rs 1,000.The Haritha Haram project has come under criticism from opposition parties for allegedly ‘misusing’ public funds. The including CPI(M) and Congress have alleged that “hundreds of crores of rupees of public money” was misappropriated under the scheme.NewsClick reported that the treasurer of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, Gudur Narayan Reddy, challenged the CM to conduct a tree census in the state, which he said would show the reality of the plantation drive.RTI responses have shown that Rs 3,630 crore has been spent as part of the plantation drive, under which the government claimed to have planted 159 crore trees and saplings.The plantation drive has also resulted in several clashes between police and tribal communities. Many tribal communities have claimed that saplings are being planted on podu lands (a type of shifting cultivation practiced by Adivasis on forest land).The NewsClick report, published on July 22, said that in the past four weeks tribal communities in 13 villages across the state have opposed plantation of trees by forest department officials on land being cultivated by them and claimed under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.