by Vrindavan Today
On the eve of the World Environment Day the residents of Vrindavan including the saints, mahants and the brajwasis gathered in the Sunrakh Forest to participate in the tree plantation drive jointly organised by the U.P. Forestry Department and Friends of Vrindavan. More than fifty trees of Tamal were planted on this day and three hundred more would be planted on the following days. The section of the forest where the Tamal trees were planted will be developed as ‘Tamal Khandi’ (Tamal zone).
Shri N.K. Janu, the District Forest Officer inaugurated the plantation drive. During the drive he urged the spiritual leaderships of Vrindavan to contribute for the development of the forestry in the Sunrakh Van. “Please send the cow dung generated in the goshalas of your ashram to the forest. We shall make compost pits to make manure, which will be used in this forest land to make the soil fertile,” said the D.F.O.
“We need wide participation of the society to revive this forest. We don’t have sweet water to grow the trees here. Those ashrams who have water tankers may please send the sweet water for the forest, as per their capacity. We shall store the water in the reservoirs built for this purpose.”
As agreed with the forestry department earlier, Friends of Vrindavan brought one mini truck full of flower waste and unloaded it in the natural pits assigned for composting. According to Shri Ajay Das, the Programmme Associate of Friends of Vrindavan, “We shall bring the used flowers from the temples for this forest. We shall try to organise the cow dung for this forest after discussing with the ashrams.”
The tree plantation drive on the occassion of the World Environment Day was planned after a delegation of the Braj Vrindavan Heritage Alliance led by Mahant Fuldol Bihari Das met the D.F.O in which they drew the attention of the DFO towards the Sunrakh Van. Friends of Vrindavan director Jagannath Poddar was also present in the delegation who proposed to develop ‘Vrinda Nature Walk’ in the forest land on the lines of the Taj Nature Walk. Shri N.K. Janu, the District Forest Officer, assured the delegation that he would make a proposal for the ‘Nature Walk’ and send it to the government. Meanwhile it was agreed that the Forestry department will celebrate the World Environment Day with Friends of Vrindavan by planting trees in the reserve forest of Sunrakh.
Shri Ful Dol Bihari Das, Pt. Bihari Lal Bashishtha, Dr. Chandra Prakash Sharma, Girdhari Brajwasi, Ram Narayan Brajwasi, Mahant Madhumangal Sharan Das, Dhananjay Goutam, Jagannath Poddar, Tamal Krishna Das, Subal Das, Forest Ranger M.K. Meena, Forest Deputy Ranger Biri Singh Yadav and many other forestry staff and the members from the civil society participated in this drive.
