To save an over 300-year-old banyan tree from poisoning, a “Chipko" movement was observed by an NGO at Mulund Colony, Mulund West on Thursday. The emotional and angry locals joined the protest to save the tree which has been a part of their colony for generations.
The members of an NGO (Shresht Aai Prathishthan) supported by congress activists and the locals held placards and banners during the movement to save the banyan tree. Some activists climbed the tree while others hugged it. The protesters called the movement even more important because it's the National Tree of India.
Vithal Satpute, Block President of Mulund Congress who conducted the initiative, said, “This tree has stood here for 300 years, but there are a few perpetrators who have come in the night and injected this tree with poison to kill it. There have been holes drilled in the tree through which it has been poisoned, so the only way this tree was saved was through water, nutrients and the stop of poison injection. The leaves started to fall off but now it has finally started reviving again.”
The protesters stated that an appeal has been made to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to save the tree.
“Through the NGO we have filed a complaint with the local police who have forwarded this issue to the BMC office and the BMC said that they have sent a letter for an investigation but its been two months since then and we have received no response,” added Satpute.
Rajesh Ingle, Executive Member, Mumbai Congress, who supported the movement, said, “When a tree is poisoned, it is drilled till its core and poisoned which makes the tree lose its leaves and it gradually dries up and dies. It looks like a natural death but it's not and this is exactly what is going to be the future of the banyan tree if we don't save it now. The perpetrators have drilled the tree at a height of 3 to 4 feet so it is quite visible, and we came to know about this when the vendors below the tree found poison bottles around it.”
Environmentalist and activist, Krishna Jadhav who was part of the chipko movement, said, “I am a tree lover and watching this tree being tortured and killed in this manner hurts me deeply. We must try to protect the environment instead of killing the trees in such brutal ways. This tree has revived now because the poisoning was stopped on time, but there are many such cases where the tree is just left to die, and is cut or uprooted later.”
“If we save nature, nature will save us, otherwise we all are headed towards our doom,” added Jadhav.
A vendor selling vegetables since generations under the tree, Balasaheb Ramchandan Shrive, said, “Earlier my grandmother used to sell vegetables sitting under this tree, then my mother sold vegetables and now I do it, I'm 40 years old, this tree has been around since a very long time. We also conduct pooja here every year, I almost tear up whenever I think about this tree being poisoned and killed. I'm not sure who are the culprits, but whoever they are, they should be held accountable and given appropriate punishment.”
Originally the Chipko movement, also called Chipko Andolan, a nonviolent social and ecological movement by rural villagers, in India in the 1970s, aimed at protecting trees and forests.
