Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Gifting health and joy to Indorians on the eve of Holi, a team of forest officials led by divisional forest officer (DFO) Mahendra Singh Solanki has readied over 25k saplings, most with medicinal properties. The saplings will be gifted to all interested residents, educators, hospitals and institutes to assist in treatment of many diseases including cancer. Coming from a farming background, Solanki wanted to present these to the city before retiring. ‘I was born in Khargone, but Indore is my land, a place where I studied and found myself… my karma bhumi,’ Solanki said.
He picked out saplings with medicinal properties to help people fight diseases. Solanki paid for plantation, seeds, saplings and processing from his salary. ‘We have especially planted Lakshmi Taru (Simarouba glauca), which is an important tree species growing in the forests of Central America,’ Solanki said. He added that an extract has been shown to possess anti-cancer activity. ‘In some studies, it has been evaluated to show anti-cancer potential on leukaemic cancer cell lines, which can save lives,’ Solanki informed.
He added that procuring seeds and growing Lakshmi Taru is a tedious task. ‘The weather, temperature, soil and many other factors determine the growth of a seed and for this particular seed, India is foreign,’ Solanki said. Other than that, they have saplings of red and white sandalwood, shami (Prosopis cineraria), banyan and others. Shami saplings are of prime importance to Hindu religion as it is worshipped on Dussehra.
‘All parts of Shami tree—fruits, stamps, leaves, roots and juice have health benefits, including anti-ageing properties and promoting heart health,’ Solanki said.
Forest ready with medicinal herbal colours!
Indore is all set to protect residents from harmful synthetic holi colours. The colours are being prepared with medicinal properties to protect skin and environment ‘We are already on the way to prepare and provide 3k packages of 25 gram each in Indore for a nominal price of Rs 55 per packet,’ Solanki said.
Indore forest department has prepared herbal, natural colours from tesu flowers. ‘The flowers are rich in sulphur, which makes them a perfect treatment for skin ailments,’ Solanki said. He added tesu flowers purify and cleanse bloodstream of free radicals. ‘The paste of flowers is also applied externally to cure joint pains, swelling, sprains, injury and arthritis. So these colours can really help people,’ Solanki said. Colour packs have been prepared to celebrate eco-friendly Holi in Indore in line with the clean city campaign. ‘Opting for these colours means less pollution of environment and saving water,’ Solanki said. The colours are available at Navratanbagh forest office in Indore.
