BHUBANESWAR: In a quiet corner of Odisha’s mineral-rich Keonjhar district, 42-year-old Mitrabhanu Naik is busy guarding the forests in Belda beat (smallest administrative unit). However, the man clad in a khaki uniform is more than a guardian. Naik’s love for nature and commitment to conservation has left an indelible mark on the forest land he has been working on for years to protect.
His unwavering efforts have not only helped revive the barren patches of the Belda reserve forest in Keonjhar range but have also earned him a special recognition from the forest department.
In a gesture of appreciation, three regenerated forests now proudly bear his name, a testament to Naik’s enduring contribution to preserving the greenery in the region affected by large-scale mining. It all started in 2021 when Naik was assigned the duty of guarding 32,000 saplings the forest department had planted in 20-hectare land under a CSR scheme to restore green cover in the barren land.
As watering and taking care of such a huge number of plants require resources, Naik and other forest staff started reaching out to the villages nearby Belda reserve forest for support. Soon the Van Surakshya Samitis (VSS) in Potol, Mahadevpur and Kendua villages were revived.“ We had to hold three to four rounds of meetings to seek support from the villagers in guarding and watering the plants.
With the help of the VSS members, watering was done for nearly six months from January to June. Within a year, the plants managed to thrive,” said Naik. Impressed with the conservation efforts, the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force Sisir Kumar Ratho and other senior forest officials, who had paid a visit to the site, decided to name the plantation site after him.
From there on, the regenerated forest was denoted as ‘Mitrabhanu Van’. Naik’s efforts prompted the forest department and the Keonjhar territorial division to name two other sites, having over 44,000 plants, as ‘Mitrabhanu Vans’. The department has planted 28,000 saplings in a 17-hectare patch and another 16,000 saplings in a 10-hectare patch under the compensatory afforestation scheme with support from the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Idcol in Belda beat.
The two forest plantation sites with fruit-bearing trees have been named as ‘Mitrabhanu Van-2’ and ‘Mitrabhanu Van-3’. Naik said recognising his efforts the local community members have also joined him in safeguarding plants in these two plantation sites.“ Maheswar’s commitment and hard work is an inspiration for others to join the cause of preserving our precious natural heritage. Such field staff deserve out-of-turn promotion as a token of encouragement and appreciation,” said Khurda honorary wildlife warden Subhendu Mallik.