E-Paper
New Banyan sapling in place of fallen ‘Gandhi Vatvriksha’ today
The historic and at least 300-year-old banyan tree had fallen during torrential rain on September 22, making many emotional. The tree got the name ‘Gandhi Vatvriksha’ because during the freedom movement it was a meeting place for Gandhians.
Lucknow: The spot where the iconic ‘Gandhi Banyan Tree’ (Gandhi Vatvriksha) in Etawah stood till last fortnight will again have a new banyan tree on Sunday, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
The historic and at least 300-year-old banyan tree had fallen during torrential rain on September 22, making many emotional. Within hours after it fell, locals reached the spot, expressing shock and sadness and more people thronged the place when information about uprooting of the tree went viral on social media.
The tree got the name ‘Gandhi Vatvriksha’ because during the freedom movement it was a meeting place for Gandhians.
Prabhat Mishra, a government officer posted in Etawah who runs an environment movement called ‘Red Tape Movement’ for forestation and tree protection, said that the administration had assured the local people that a new banyan sapling would be planted at the same spot on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Mahatama Gandhi.
However, local environmentalists, emotionally attached to the old, iconic tree, decided to cut twigs from the fallen banyan tree in an attempt to grow saplings from it.
One Anubhav Yadav and his wife Jyoti, who run a school in Karhal in the adjacent district of Mainpuri, took 10 twigs and planted them in flower pots. “Nine of the ten have germinated, one didn’t”, said Prabhat Mishra. Similarly, one of the three twigs planted at the National Savings office in Etawah survived. “Another environment conscious citizen of Etawah, Ganesh Gyanarthi, who took 60 twigs, distributed them among people,” said Mishra, deputy director, National Savings, Agra division.
“Through the twigs, we will not only be able to preserve the lineage of the grand old tree but will have many trees from the old one,” said Mishra.
He said that the Gandhi Banyan Tree was revered from the religious point of view and also respected because it had an association with the freedom movement. According to people, many freedom fighters in the district were tied to the tree and beaten by the British. Some were even hanged from the tree.
The saplings from the old tree would be planted in Etawah, Firozabad, Mainpuri, and Agra, said Prabhat Mishra.
The tree had been a rallying point for environmental awareness programmes too.
