Retd govt bank employee ties himself to tree to protest felling
Shivani.Azad@timesgroup.com
Dehradun:08.09.2021
Shoppers at a major market in Rishikesh were greeted with a strange sight on Tuesday morning — an elderly man tied to a tree. Hemant Gupta, a retired senior clerk at a government bank, sat quietly under a peepal tree, a yellow rope wrapped around his torso.
The 64-year-old man had sent multiple letters to authorities to protest against trees that were being felled for a national highway. When he didn’t hear back from them, he decided to take matters into his own hands. “I want to make sure they don’t fell another tree. I’m not against the development of the highway but we must find a way to preserve the trees, perhaps, transplant the younger ones elsewhere,” said Gupta.
Gupta is ready to “adopt” the trees and exhaust his savings to bear their transplantation and maintenance expenses. “I will break my fixed deposits if I have to. But our environment must be protected,” he said.
Full report on www.toi.in
SILENT PROTEST: Hemant Gupta under the peepal tree
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