Green Man of India - Rohit Mehra

Popularly known as Green man of India - Rohit Mehra , an IRS officer from Punjab is well known for his love for forests especially urban forests. Apart from his profession he is an author, motivational speaker and blogger. His mission and passion both is to protect and conserve the environment by developing urban forests and make earth more greener place to live in. 

Flashback

Rohit, like other students was an average student in his student life. He failed in his grade 12 board exams however he continued with dedication and passed the exams. Later on he was able to pass Civil Services exam in 2004 and get commissioned as an IRS officer. 

His love for trees was not from childhood. He even refused to plant a tree when his grandfather urged him to do so however a U turn came in his life when his son told him that they had a day off in school due to pollution in 2016. It shattered his mind and provoked him to do something. He decided to devote a small part of his life for environment and sustainability.

A Hike to Greenery

Rohit started his campaign for greenery by first studying numerous books on Indian culture and from their he came across " Vriksh Ayurved. " He also turned up to an ancient Japanese art called Miyawaki technique of planting trees. After deep Research and studies he was hit upon the idea of creating an urban forest. So far Rohit has created 250 microforests in the urban areas especially in Ludhiana and Amritsar with a focus to plant only native species of plants. " In life you always have two choices either to react to any situation or to take action to change it. "Mehra says.

Vertical Gardens - the first project

The first step towards his oath for setting up greenery was  developing Vertical Gardens in the City. He asked for plastic bottles to the school students and scrap dealers. He created such vertical Gardens at Golden Temple Amritsar, railway and police stations, judicial campuses, his own office and even some IITs. The vertical garden at Income Tax Department Ludhiana has been given place in Limca Book of World Records which used around 17000 plastic bottles. 

Apart from Punjab, Rohit has developed around 550 vertical Gardens across Delhi , Mumbai, Jammu ,Vadodara, Surat, Kolkata ,Gurugram and Odisha, just free of cost.

Developing Urban Forest

Mehra along with his team of green volunteers or Eco Warriors has converted several dump yards and vacant places into Mini forests. Many Mini forests were created over industrial land beside canals and panchayat lands. Many trees in these forests have grown to a height of 15 to 17 feet and it is even difficult to pass through them. Following Vriksh Ayurved, Mehra planted minimum of 25 to 30 native varieties of trees like Amla , Neem and Kikar which complement each other by sharing nutrients among themselves. He uses organic substances like leaves, cowdung etc for developing forest.

The tree Hospital and Mobile tree ATM

One more unique endeavour  in this series of environment protection is a Tree Hospital set up by the officer at Amritsar. With the help of some botanists ,Ayurvedacharyas and environmentalists, a tree ambulance is also placed there." Whenever a plant is dying, people contact us for suggesting remedies. In many cases we even sent ambulance to the home to protect the plant" says Mehra. On an average, Mehra gets 25 to 30 calls everyday for treating plants. Also they have a mobile tree ATM from where they distribute two free plants to the people who promise to take care of them.

The seed balls

Mehra has introduced one more unique concept - the seeds enveloped in clay and enriched with proper nutrition for their growth called seed balls. Mehra and his team throw these seed balls in free spaces wherever available so that they can sprout and develope as a plant. He distributed these seed balls in langars, toll plazas and rath yatras also. 

Achievements

Although list of his accomplishments is huge, still a few to be mentioned here. Mehra has written three books on environment- " how to make urban forests", "31 green habits to save the planet" and " Gift lungs to future Generation". Mehra has been called up in IITs, IIMs and Ayush department of Government of India for sharing his valuable knowledge. National Green Tribunal in collaboration with Mehra is aiming to prepare 300 urban forests in the near future. 

Salute to the efforts of Green Man of India - an Income tax Officer by profession but an environmentalist by heart who considers developing green patches as his duty to the nation and the society.