You never know what inspires you to begin something that has never been thought before. The story of Dr SL Saini is definitely the one that tells us that we can begin good work on our own, without crying for help from the authorities. His love for environment and mother-nature made him a green crusader.?
After returning from Al-Anbar University in Iraq around the year 1990, Dr. S.L Saini embarked on a mission of planting saplings to make his home-town a greener place to live. During his exchange program at the university, what caught his attention was how Iraqis brilliantly transformed their desert soil into a lush green cover of gorgeous plants and trees waving with the wind.
Rajat Kalra
With his deep predicament for the lack of greener spaces in his hometown, Yamunanagar in Haryana, Saini knew what he had to do when he returns home.
As a result, in 1991, Saini founded ¡®Haryana Environmental Society¡¯ (HES), an NGO with a mission of planting trees in and around his city. Today, HES is successfully established in four cities of Haryana including Yamunanagar, Ambala, Panchkula and Kurukshetra. Saini, the Founder President of HES; with his supporters have reportedly planted over 2 lakh saplings since 1991, of which, nearly 1.5 lakh have already grown into proud green trees.
¡°During my exchange program at the Al-Anbar University, I met a Japanese man. I asked him about the great development in his country. He said it¡¯s because Japanese believe in doing noble work. So, while I saw how Iraq brilliantly grew plants and trees on its desert land, I knew that my noble work will all be about planting trees when I return home.¡± said Dr Saini.?
Rajat Kalra
70-year-old Dr Saini is proud of his physical fitness and enthusiasm in doing hard labour for keeping his mission HES alive and successful.
With PhD in Applied Mathematics, he took retirement from his job nearly 10 years ago as a professor of mathematics at a college situated in his hometown. Dr Saini says he has always tried to inspire his students, youth and the older people to plant more and more saplings. While he is immensely appreciative and thankful for nearly 15000 volunteers associated with HES today, he holds a deep feeling of resentment for all the municipal authorities he has seen in power in the last 28 years of his green mission.?
¡°In this great cause, even a hijra (transgender) helped me, but municipal authorities didn¡¯t. Ramesh Kumari, a transgender from Ladwa, near Yamunanagar, donated her old car to HES and continues to actively support our cause. We are working with funds from common people, but a mission like this needs more support. Let alone support, municipal authorities are rather against us because their motives are different and all they want is just malaai (cream). The system is corrupt,¡± says Dr Saini.??
Rajat Kalra
Dr Saini also mentioned, he has raised his voice to the respective governments and authorities in power to implement ¡®Tree Protection Act¡¯ in the urban areas of the state of Haryana ¨C but all has gone in vain.
He had filed a PIL in high court in 2004 towards implementing Tree Protection Act in Haryana.
However, he says, despite the directions of the High Court to the concerned authorities in 2006, no action has been taken.?
¡°I had to write 33 letters to the authorities to seek an answer on their inaction. Eventually I was surprised to see their response which implied that the trees planted by HES is the property and responsibility of HES and the authorities have no role to play in their protection,¡± added Saini with intense remorse.
Dr SL Saini
In 1991, it was with his own hard earned money, a sum of Rs 1,500, with which Saini started his green mission.
However, as he continued to inspire people around him, HES sought a donation of 250 rupees per sapling they planted. This amount included the cost of the sapling, the tree-guard (made of iron today), maintenance and other allied cost.
This cost kept increasing with time and market inflation.
Saini says, "Today they collect a donation of Rs 1,300 from anybody who would like to plant a sapling. The donor¡¯s name is printed on the plate that is attached on the guard around the tree, as a mark of respect to its donor."
With HES being a well known mission on many social media platforms, Saini has been able to get donors from countries, such as, Canada and Hungary.?
Dr SL Saini
A great amount of credit also goes to Rahul Bharti, the state convener of HES. Bharti resides in Kurkshetra, Haryana, and is responsible for the strategy, planning and operations of HES. Bharti is a fond poet and a professor at a reputable hotel management institute in Kurukshetra.
He has also authored a book called ¡®The Nothing of Everything¡¯, a collection of poetic verses.?
¡°HES is not an organisation that only exists in the files of the bureaucrats. It is a mission that is actually working on ground and contributing towards green environment. We feel proud to see our cities are under green cover now¡± says Bharti.? ? ?
Dr SL Saini
Currently, HES is frantically in need of support from the government and authorities to save the trees they plant and to expand their mission to a greater extent.
¡°I also wrote a letter to PM Modi about this. It is my request to the government; first they must implement Tree Protection Act in Haryana, just like it is in Delhi and Chandigarh. Second, the government must study our time-tested model and adopt it in other states ¨C HES is ready to extend any knowledge support for this.
Third, authorities must take an action against the wrongdoers who are unreasonably cutting down our trees,¡± added Saini.?
The author is a Haryana-based freelance contributor.