CORRESPONDENT
KOKRAJHAR: Enviromentalist Padmashree Jadav Payeng who is popularly known as Forest Man of India while speaking on the occasion of Students’ Day celebration at Dotma in Kokrajhar as chief guest on Friday demanded that there should be harsh measures and stringent punishment against forest destroyers and illegal encroachers in forest land. He asserted that students were the future to change the world and thus there should be compulsory syllabus on environment study from LP school so that the students feel the necessity of protection of nature. He also said it should be made mandatory for every student enrolled in LP schools to plant trees and nurture in school compound to breathe fresh air.
According to Payeng, there is a direct relationship between trees and animals, and no one can survive without the other. Humans live on oxygen because we get it from trees. Cutting down a tree equates to the death of a human being, for which those who destroy forests should face serious punishment, the speaker continued, adding that there should be no defence for those who chop down trees or intrude on forest territory. He added that although humans are civilized, they nevertheless harm nature, which has resulted in significant climate change, while animals and birds naturally grow trees by eating fruits and excreting. Only students, he said, will be the most powerful force to safeguard the environment.
The Forest Man claimed that although there are hundreds of botanical lecturers and teachers who are familiar with all of the common and scientific names for plants and trees, many of them are unable to recognise specific species. Many scientists, he claimed, foresee the catastrophic disasters brought on by climate change, but more trees must be planted in order to rescue the planet.
He claimed that if the planting of trees by lower primary kids were made mandatory, the globe would return to being green in twenty years. He called upon all students on the occasion of Students’ Day to plant trees and take care of it to save the world from destruction. On the rampant felling of trees and illegal encroachments in Ultaoani -Saralpara reserve forest in Kokrajhar district Payeng urged the authority concerned to take strict measures against them.