Paradip: Setting an example for the government as well as other agencies involved in mindless felling of trees, a green crusader of this port town has managed to conserve a 35-year-old baniyan tree which was about to be cut down.
“It takes just a few hours to destroy a full-size tree but a lot of years are required for its growth,” said Ayaskant Roy, who was instrumental in relocating the old tree of Badapadia area here and made fresh leaves grow on its trunk.
It is painful to watch the logs lying along roads like corpses, he added.
A large number of trees are being chopped off in the name of road widening and expansion of industrial units. The agencies engaged in the work don’t even spare a thought before going for mass felling of trees which pains many.
According to reports, Paradip Port authorities are setting up a clean cargo berth near the old administrative building under its expansion plan. More than a thousand trees have already been cut down on a stretch between the bus stand and gate-5 of the port under this project.
As part of the project, some workers were engaged to remove the 35-year-old tree from Badapadia which caught Ayaskant’s attention in the first week of January.
He resisted the move and offered them a proposal for the shifting of the tree to another location. Ayaskant also agreed to bear the cost of shifting of the tree.
After getting the nod, Ayaskant first trimmed the branches and dug the ground around the tree so that it can be plucked up easily.
Later, he used a JCB earthmover and shifted the trunk along with its radical (first root) to a place near the local Hanuman temple in a truck.
He also excavated the ground there to accommodate the large stem. Besides, he dumped several packets of compost before putting the tree in the ditch. Ayaskant job was not over yet.
He had been watering the old tree since its relocation. His joy knew no bounds when fresh leaves appeared on its trunk.
After his hard work bore result, the confident crusader is now campaigning for relocation of other old trees instead of felling them down.
Large trees can easily be shifted no matter how old they are, Ayaskant said, urging the authorities concerned to follow his method to play their part in conserving trees. PNN