Ramesh K Dhiman : The World Environment Day (June 5) is a big bang event celebrated every year with never before enthusiasm and intrigue. There is a chain of celebrations where those at the helms plant saplings offering a perfect photo opportunity for them and their acolytes. And, lo and behold, the following day the event is featured prominently grabbing eyeballs making for the prominent newspaper headlines. They splurge a boon on this perfunctory ritual, with no takeaway for posterity. But, here is a lone ranger from the hills of Uttrakhand to whom every day was ‘‘World Environment Day’.
He was simply fascinated by the floral wealth God has bestowed upon Uttrakhand, the land fabled for its divine links. This wonder kid of nature fell for its ethereal beauty and bounty when he was all of 8 year. He started planting saplings at this tender age when tots of his age played marbles.
“Trees are truly the life-breathing objects of nature which are in talking terms with me. They are my trusted friends and members of my extended family which can share my agonies and ecstasies”, adding without a pause “They really taught me to stay cool and composed in the face of adversities coming my way”, he had once confessed to an acquaintance.
‘Vriksha Manav’ (Tree man) to teeming millions of his ardent admirers, Vishewshwar Dutt Saklani, a freedom fighter and a hardcore and untiring environmentalist, who passed away at his native Saklana village, a shining outpost under Tehri sub-division of Uttrakhand in January this year, leaving behind a vast tree empire of more than 50 lakh trees of different hues.
Born on June 2, 1922, at Saklana village, once a sleepy village in Tehri sub-division of Uttrakhand, his true love for the trees seems to have born with him, which remained an undying passion for him till he bade adieu to this mundane world. His contemporaries say with certain amount of confidence that Dutt died a contented man, leaving behind a rich legacy to carry forward to posterity. He created a vast and verdant kingdom of over 50 lakh trees of different species, thus hugely contributing to the cause of ecology and environment facing potential threat from the nature’s marauders.
He was so passionate about his chosen mission that he was unfazed when he lost his vision to excessive exposure to dust and extreme climatic conditions. This failed to dampen the soaring spirits of this nonagenarian lone ranger to keep his tryst with ‘Save environments save ecology’ mission. He had hardly any leisure time to stop and stare that kept him moving on to accomplish his chartered mission, rain or sunshine. On losing eyesight, his long-time friend and leader of the Chipko Movement, Sunderlal had quipped “Dutt has lost his eye sight but certainly not his vision”.
Reliving the fond memories frozen in time, his son Santosh Swaroop Saklani, turns nostalgic as he tells scribes, fighting back tears “Dad was so fiercely committed to the cause of environments that his tryst with trees continued unabated even after losing vision. He would trudge long distances to reach his destination. He turned thousands of hectares of fallow land in and around his village into a lush-green patch by planting saplings of all species, including rhododendrons, fruit-bearing, ornamental and other local variety”. He breaks down between times while answering a barrage of questions and queries on his eventful life, times and his mission. “We wish the younger generation follows in his footsteps if it wanted humanity to breathe fresh air”, he snaps off.
Dutt was an invincible lone ranger on a mission to turn the barren land into a sprawling expanse dotted with multi-hued trees out to tell tales of this man’s blind romance with them. His roller coaster journey into the task cut out that was fraught with twists and turns that he took his stride.
He had a fair share of hiccups and hurdles that he had to face when he embarked on his a tad difficult yet exciting journey to accomplish his chartered mission. His well-meaning proposals to create a vast plant empire of his own on the waste land was vehemently opposed by the locals, who thought the proposal would eat out their small holdings by encroaching the land for good. ‘Time is a great healer’ they say. He won over their hearts and found favours with those who had been putting up a stiff opposition against the move.
His unfailing love for the conservation of environment and ecology by raising a vast plant kingdom helped shape his dreams into a stark reality. His outstanding and unforgettable contribution was path-breaking and would remain immortal in the annals of history. “Today, when he is not amidst us we could realize what he has done for the generations to come”, Narender Negi, his one-time associate tells with tear-filled eyes.
Adversities have chased him like his own shadow. After his first wife passed away in 1958, Dutt married Bhagwati after much insistence by elders, who supported him to carry forward the unique mission with a renewed vigour. A grief-stricken Bhagwati Devi said in a choked voice “For him, trees were his true friends, family and fans, who he would often speak to. Plants were the world for him and his ultimate purpose to live. He loved trees like his own progeny”, she said.
She said “He loved plants which were what blood to human body. He talked to them, shared his pangs and privations with these mute listeners when homesickness and melancholy pounded him to the hilt. Material wool-gathering could never deviate him from the path of righteousness he had been treading on”
His teeming millions of admirers remember him as a renaissance man. “Wherever we go we come across rows upon rows of undulating tree troves on once-a-barren patch of land that he named after his elder sibling ‘Nagendra Dutt Saklani Van’, also a freedom fighter.
Another kin confided in that Nagendra had revolted against the then ruler of Tehri and his sustained efforts that finally led to the merger of Tehri state in Indian union. His contribution, too, was unique and unparalleled for many reasons than one.
Dutt, who deserved a full-throated encomium for his unforgettable contribution to save environments and ecology, would continue to inspire generations to come. Puerile as it may sound, his parent state has failed to accord him due recognition to this son of the soil and his mission. He bagged the ‘Indira Priyadarshini’ award for his huge contribution in the field in 1986, which was conferred on him by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.