Champaran: A woman from Champaran has decided to plant 700 saplings on Thursday, the day she gets married, to make her wedding a memorable one.
Kiran (25) wants to gift her village – Majhar village in East Champaran’s Turkaulia block, around 170km northwest of Patna – a clean environment.
“Girls are usually bestowed with blessings and gifts by villagers on their wedding day and the same will happen in my case,” Kiran told The Telegraph. “I want to gift something back to the villagers and hence, have decided to plant the saplings.”
Kiran works as a media consultant with the Bihar Health Society. She’s marrying Ramesh, an assistant professor at NIT-Mizoram, whose ancestral house is at Rajapakar village in Vaishali district. “I feel privileged to be marrying someone who cares for the society. My family will encourage her to undertake such works after marriage,” Ramesh told The Telegraph.
Kiran, who works with the State Health Society, has been promoting the importance of green cover and clean environment from her school days.
Late former President APJ Abdul Kalam conferred her with the National Children’s Science Congress award in 2006 for devising a way to protect sheesham (north Indian rosewood) trees in north Bihar.
“I used to mix an neem oil with kerosene and water to wash the roots of the damaged trees,” Kiran explained. “Later, when neem oil wasn’t easily available in the market, I replaced it with carbofeuron, a chemical available at agro-medicine shops.”
The forest department will provide Kiran 700 saplings for free. “She has set an ideal for other girls,” said Motihari divisional forest officer P.K. Choudhary.
Kiran’s father, Jitendra Singh, said: “I hope other girls get inspired and try to contribute to the society,”
The villagers lauded her initiative. “Kiran has proved that she is the daughter of the entire village,” said Deonath Sahni, a local resident.