Gandhinagar : ‘Desh ki mitti ke saath paudha’ an unique initiative by a couple. At a time when the whole world is facing the problem of global warming, Ashok Kumar Verma, a native of Agra and serving in the Air Force at Mumbai, has taken a unique approach to save the environment and motivate more and more people to plant trees. The name of the initiative is, Desh ki mitti ke saath paudha. He decided to travel all over India, collect soil from all the states, pilgrimages of different religions, martyr’s memorials and will set up plants in this collected soil, donate these plants to the people through “Desh Ki Mitti Ke Saath Paudha” campaign and inspire people to plant trees. His wife Neetu Varma’s full support has been received in this campaign. He is determined to collect soil by circumnavigating the country of India, Air Force jawan Ashok Kumar and his wife Neetu Verma in their motorcar with cooking utensils and essential items like tents started the journey of about 12 thousand km from Mumbai by accepting the soil from his mother Omvati Devi. Decided to travel 200 km every day by bearing all the expenses of the program themselves. They would set up tents on the road wherever they could find a place to stay and cook their own meals. Visiting important places along the way, pilgrimage sites, War Memorial and accepting the soil from the hands of the locals became their routine.
During the trip they also reached Khardung-La Pass, the highest road in the world where the temperature is minus degrees at Leh and got soil from there. To take the soil, they also visited Wagah border. They also conveyed the message of planting trees to the students of the school on the way and also got soil from them. The couple was a guest of Gujarat on World Environment Day before reaching Mumbai on their way to the final leg of the trip. They visited the Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvarta and expressed their determination to get the soil of the holy land of Gujarat in their hands and dedicate thier entire life for tree planting. During the visit, the Governor said that it is our culture to see the plants in the forest. Planting a plant and leaving it to God does not make it grow. He said that adequate care should be taken for the growth of plants after planting. The governor planted trees on occasions like birthdays and weddings, urging people to take care of the plants. Explaining the idea of India’s parikrama, Ashok Kumar Verma said, “The purpose of this parikrama, which started with the spirit of patriotism, is to spread awareness among the people about planting trees to save the environment.” Ashok Kumar Verma and his wife Neetu Verma reiterated their determination to dedicate the rest of their lives to the tree planting campaign.
