Journalism of Courage
In 1982,Raghunath Maruti Dhole was asked by his father to attend a wedding of a relative. His father gave him Rs 5 to gift it to the newly-weds. However,by the time he reached the venue,he got late and the wedding ceremony got over. So,Dhole decided to come back home without handing over the gift money to the couple. On his way back,he bought two plant saplings. Next day,when he reached his office in the Pune University campus,he planted the two saplings there. Today,the saplings have grown into full-fledged trees.
If I would have given them the cash,they would have spent it in no time but the saplings that I have planted on their names are very much alive and have even added to the whole ecology,in a small way, recalls 55-year-old Dhole,a businessman,who also runs a nursery that offers plants,without any cost. Before getting into the business of landscape gardens,Dhole was working at the forensic science department at Unipersity of Pune from the year 1980 to 2000.
He strictly gives indigenous plants to people and has 250 varieties of indigenous plants. They are the habitats of different kinds of birds and butterflies and are extremely important for the ecological balance, says Dhole,who distributed over 50,000 saplings last year to various schools,colleges and institutions. Apart from Pune,he also provides plant saplings in Satara,Nasik and Nagar area. In Pune,his nursery is located at Palm Groves on B T Kawade Road.
I had read somewhere that in 50 years,one tree gives oxygen worth Rs 17 lakhs,recycled water worth Rs 21 lakhs,controls population worth Rs 34 lakhs,improves soil fertility worth Rs 17 lakhs and food and shelter for animals worth Rs 17 lakhs. So you can imagine,every time we cut a tree,we lose Rs 106 lakhs. I am simply doing the reverse, says Dhole.
