How an Indore man replaced the barren land in a rich forest. Bharat News

The 75 -year -old Garg recalls, “It was completely barren, Rocky Hillk. There were no trees.” His dream was to build a university after retirement, he says.

But by December 2015, the reality hit. He explains, “It will be Rs 100 crore to build a college, and I did not have that much money.” Friends urged Garg to sell “useless” land, but he refused.

When the monsoon clouds gathered in June 2016, Garg says, he took a decision. “Let me try to plant trees. If I fail, I still have the option to sell, I thought,” they say. The local villagers were not as optimistic as they felt that there was a waste of time to plant trees when there was no water on the hill. But Garg was determined, they say. He covered a distance of 45 km from the house daily and planted neem and banyan plants first.

Within a year, Garg says, ‘Keshar Parvat’ began a change. They say that small roots divide boulders, stuck dust and “stones converted into soil”. After water.

A forest without chemicals

Garg says he trusted the sky more than fertilizers, and Gambit paid. “The monsoon comes with nitrogen and sulfur. This is enough for the whole year,” they explain. Not a single gram pesticide has been sprayed on the hill. “Let insects and birds eat … it is their right,” they say.

Garg’s approach has been reduced to a minimum of technical: For 10 days before planting, two species like siblings, keep two species like siblings, keep water to drink water so that the roots deepen, and upper, maintain trees.

Over the years, a variety of trees have been planted on the land, including olives, Mexican date, dragon fruits, apples, cashews and saffron. Garg says, now 500 species give their shadow to Keshar Parvat.

Where Wales was to be drilled 600 feet deep once, fresh ground water now increases from 300 to 350 feet. A pond digs on the slope during the rain and feeds the drip grid during the dry months, he says.

Growing green cover, falling heat

Green covers more than increasing scenes; It cools and hydrates the entire neighborhood. Garg says, on the afternoon of May 1, Indore can size at 43 ° C, but under Keshav Parvat’s canopy, the thermometer read 37 ° C, says Garg. He said, “Stand under five trees and you will not feel that it is hot. For nine years, we have not seen drought. The trees attract rain,” they say.

Garg says that as the water table increases, the water pumps have started running for less hours and the cost of electricity has reduced. Plastic water bottles that once came by crate, are now less common. He said that visitors drink from the Clay Cup or fill their flask on the taps fed by the new well.

With shadows and water, animals and birds followed. “Hinas, Jails, Nilgai, Rabbits and many snakes and scorpions,” Garg closed a list. Bird-verses have logged 30 species, and lapidopterist, 25 types of butterflies, they claim.

Set an example

Growing a forest without plastic or chemicals has not come to be cheaper. Garg says that he has invested more than ₹ 8 crore and still spends ₹ 3 lakhs every month on maintaining the forest. Nevertheless, in 2007, the price of 2 lakhs per bigha is ₹ 70 lakhs per BE, he explains.

“We do not sell fruits. People come, whatever they like. God has helped me, why should I commercialize it?” He asks.

The real advantage, he emphasizes, is in installing an example: a forest can rise on the rock; Rain may return; Food can grow without fertilizer or pesticides. “People say that I have made a heaven. I just feel with one God,” Garg says.

Ahead road

On World Environment Day, Keshar Parvat teaches an important lesson of how stones can be converted into soil, even the future dreams filled with trees. “Every Indian should plant 125 trees,” Garg says, he says that he is to plant 10,000 more trees at the empty corners of the hill and guide local farmers to free their gardens of plastic and chemical sprays.

“A person should take care of the future generation. You can only save the future generation. If you grow more and more forests. If there is a tree, animals are there, insects are … humans are good. Just start … Nature always gives more back,” he says.