Odisha’s ‘Green Man’ Sees Red In Uprooting Of 100 Trees For OAV Project In Ganjam

Berhampur: ‘Green Man of Odisha’ Sudhir Rout, who has planted more than 1.8 lakh saplings in public places, has drawn the attention of the state government towards uprooting of trees for a project of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV) in Ganjam district.

Speaking to Odisha Bytes, Sudhir said he had spent more than Rs 1.5 lakh from his own sources to plant about 700 trees including mango, guava, jackfruit, custard apple, drumstick on the OAV premises five years ago after consulting the school authorities and have been taking care of those with utmost care.

“I personally brought water from nearby ponds and other sources by carrying it in drums for watering the trees. Last year, some mango trees bore fruit. But the OAV authorities and the contractor uprooted about 100 trees for construction of a building on school premises without even informing me. I feel let down for killing my trees,” he said.

Sudhir has also developed a jungle on barren and rugged land in front of the school by planting 10,000 trees.

Ironically, though Sudhir is a state government nominee in the management committee of the OAV, he was not informed about uprooting the trees. “Since there is sufficient space to construct the building in OAV campus, they could have translocated the trees,” he added.

The locals and green activists are also upset with uprooting of the trees. According to the Preservation of Trees Act 1994, the trees in private property cannot be trimmed or chopped without the forest officials’ permission. How the trees in a government institution were uprooted without the knowledge of the Forest Department and the district administration, they wondered.

Sudhir has already spent Rs 32 lakh from his pocket to develop greenery by planting 1.8 lakh saplings on the road side and many schools in the district during last 14 years since 2007.

A native of Madhabandha village under Chikiti block in the district, Sudhir completed MSc in Physics from Khallikote College in 1985 and became a faculty member of FIIT-JEE, New Delhi from 1999 to 2002. He also worked as Principal of Nalanda Residential College, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh from 2002 to 2006 before launching Aryabhatta Coaching Centre in Berhampur. He is the chairman of Aryabhatta Foundation and convenor of Forum for Ganjam which are spearheading the movement for development of the people of the district.