Can there be another Ajni Van?

Nagpur, Jan 10

There are thousands of trees in Ajni forest and if these trees are cut, can there by another Ajni forest? The question has been raised by nature lovers and environmentalists from Nagpur.

Under the ‘Save Ajni Van Campaign’, the members of various organisation came together and had organised a tree walk and cleanliness drive to protest against the proposed Inter Modal Station (IMS) complex at Ajni forest area. The team of Nagpur ploggers collected 10 sacks of plastic waste, post which environmentalist Juhi Pandharipande informed about the process of making eco-bricks from plastic bottles. Sandeep Pathe spoke about the historic importance of Ajni forest. Joseph George, Anasuya Kale-Chhabrani, Kunal Maurya, Rohan Araspure, blogger Shashank Gattewar, R J Raj, Anit Kolhe, BNI chief Pramod Batra, Mehuj Sukhadia, Pt. Jawalprasad, Vasudev Mishra and members of Persistent Foundation environmental activists were also present.

Bloggers and organizations growing

The special thing of this movement is that various organisations, environmental activists at national and international level are constantly joining this campaign. Together We Can, Swachh Foundation and Nagpur Citizen Forum have taken forward the campaign. On Sunday, activists of The Dream for Life Foundation, Matrix Warrior, Environmental Nitimulya, Sakha, Mudraj, Betiya Shakti Foundation and Siligram members participated in large numbers. Apart from this, bloggers such as The Desi Street, Nagpur Dot Wala, The Craving Tales, Twinkle Foundation, Food Legacy, Nagpur Club, etc. have joined the campaign.

50 species in a row

During the tree walk session, a walk was conducted to study trees under the leadership of botanist Dr Prachi Mahurkar. Dr Mahurkar gave detailed guidance on various species of trees, birds living on them. There are hundreds of trees of 50 different species in a single row and these are old trees.

Why only offer two rooms?

On the other hand, the former students have also resolved to save the Railway Men’s School. This school is built on about two and a half acres of land between the school grounds and dense trees.

But the sources have informed that the new proposal have just allocated two rooms for the school. That is why there is discontent among the students and parents of the school. In protest against this, former students took out a public awareness rally on Sunday. Under the leadership of Aniket Kuttamare, a rally was organised in the areas of Ajni Colony, Jattarodi, Kaushaly NagarS etc. and people were appealed to join the campaign.