Man on a green mission to plant 100,000 trees

It started with one sapling 17 years ago. Now for Chandra Bhushan Tiwari, life's sole mission is to plant 100,000 saplings. And he has even left a government job to pursue it.

"I just want to achieve my mission at the earliest. I cannot put into words what I feel when I come across saplings planted by me now transformed into trees," Tiwari, 40, told IANS.

Tiwari claims that he has already achieved half of his goal and has planted 50,000 saplings.

"Frankly speaking, I also feel a sense of pride in planting saplings, as in a way I believe what I am doing today will definitely be useful for the coming generations," he said.

Even after getting honoured by several politicians and public representatives, Bhushan maintains a low profile.

"It was a privilege for me when recently Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi invited me to Raj Bhavan for an interaction," Tiwari

said.

"He told me to continue with my mission and involve more and more people in the work. The governor also promised me to extend every possible help to achieve the target of planting one lakh trees," he added.

Asked if there was any specific reason that prompted him to launch the mission, Tiwari replied: "You can say my love with nature made me start such an exercise."

Nearly 17 years ago, Tiwari started to plant saplings and later transformed this work into a mission. He even left a government job to do it.

"In 1992, I started planting trees on the roadside near my locality. Gradually, I started taking pleasure in the exercise and that became a day-to-day routine for me," said Tiwari.

"You may be surprised to know that I even left my government job of a teacher that I got in a central school in Orissa. The reason was simple as due to work pressure I was not able to plant trees on a regular basis," he recalled.

Tiwari's relatives and neighbours called him insane when they learnt he had left the job so that he could plant trees.

"They used to laugh at me...But I did not pay any heed and continued with my work. And today the same people who used to laugh at me admire my efforts," said Tiwari.

In his locality, Tiwari is famous as the 'Tree man', as he is called.

"It's hard to believe in today's time that a man can leave a government job for planting trees. The devotion with which Tiwari works is great," said Kamal Kant, an engineer with the irrigation department.

Another local, J.P. Shukla, who is a teacher in a private school, said: "We need to learn a lot from Tiwari, who in a true sense is making serious efforts for betterment of the environment."

Initially, Tiwari used to buy saplings on his own, but now the locals contribute money so that he can buy saplings.

His family also supports him in his mission.

His wife Sushila, who is a teacher in a government school, takes care of the family's financial requirements. Tiwari, when he is not planting saplings, keeps himself busy with teaching poor students.

He does not charge any fee in his school, but the students have to make one pledge.

"I impart them free education with only one condition that they will plant at least one sapling in his neighbourhood," said Tiwari.

(Asit Srivastava can be contacted at asit.s@ians.in)

Last updated on Nov 1^st, 2009 at 12:21 pm IST--IANS