Team News Riveting
Antaryami Sahoo was barely 10 when his love and affection for the environment blossomed. Now 75, he had single-handedly planted over 30,000 saplings with the same grit and passion for the green cause.
A retired teacher from Kantilo village, his students lovingly call him Gacha (tree) Sir, a title he truly deserves. ‘Trees are for me and I am for them. Every school that I was transferred to, I made it a point to encourage students to plant trees and even felicitated them when they did so,” he said.
Sahoo advocated the growing need to save forests in order to save humanity. He is of the view that before cutting down trees, people should think twice because by cutting trees, they are destroying the environment and hurting animals too. So, saving forests should be the utmost priority.
There were two people in Antaryami’s life who strongly motivated him to take up the generous adoration for the green campaign. Being a social activist, his father always encouraged him to do something for the society. Besides, he was inspired by his teacher Harihar Mishra who used to regularly plant trees in his school. Antaryami’s teacher once told, ‘You should work towards saving trees or else you will see leaves only in museums.’ And that was the day that changed his life.
Sahoo, himself, has made efforts to create forests. In-fact he has planted many trees like sal, mango, banyan, ashwatha, bel and saguan to start forests. He even worked towards generating awareness about the harmful effects of podu chasa (slash-and-burn form of cultivation) in Kamalpur, Jayapur and Manipur of Boudh district. He has been honoured with many awards and recognition for his contribution to save the environment.
He has been conferred with Boudh, Phulbani and Nayagarh districts’ Prakruti Bandhu Puraskar. He has also received the Ashok Smruti award and Prakruti Mitra Puraskar besides other state level awards. For Sahoo, however, more than the awards, it is his passion for planting saplings that adds to the number.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted: “Appreciation for Antaryami Sahoo of Kantilo, Nayagarh, who is on a mission to conserve environment & wildlife by planting thousands of trees in public spaces. This sets an example for all in society to come forward & make #Odisha greener. #SabujaOdisha.”
