DHEMAJI, Feb 16 - Self-taught environmentalist-cum-Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng has laid stress on bamboo plantation considering its utility and market value.
Payeng, who spent a night at Jonai in Dhemaji district on Friday, talked to local NGO activists at the Jonai Circuit House. He asked local NGO workers to implement tree plantation schemes sponsored by the government in the rural areas and covering areas near the streets, educational institutions and public places.Payeng also made an ardent call to the students� community to save the environment from vanishing into oblivion in the face of widespread deforestation.
Discussing about erosion by the rivers, Payeng informed that Indian scientists after long-term research found that a bamboo species called �Mokal Bahn� is deeply rooted in the soil and therefore protects the soil from erosion.
�The scientists have suggested our government for planting the bamboo species on the river banks in order to protect against erosion. Following the scientists� advice, the government has taken up plantation schemes in the state,� said Payeng.
The Forest Man of India further informed that the Central Government has taken up tree-plantation schemes for greening the country, which is to be implemented in the educational institutions only.
Payeng later attended a major plantation drive at Borguli village in East Siang district of neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and addressed a public meeting there.
Borguli is one of the worst-affected villages of East Siang located on the left bank of the mighty Siang river, where a central-sponsored multi-crore anti-erosion project is being implemented.
Payeng, it may be mentioned, is an environmental activist from Jorhat district, who is a much-revered member of the Bugun indigenous group, who asked the local villagers to conduct massive plantation activities to prevent further erosion.