At a time when the Ministry of Agriculture has made a mess of its tree plantation programme, an office attendant of a primary school has shown how love for and dedication to trees can make miracle happen in greening an entire district town. Named Anwar Hossain, the office attendant has already planted 12,000 trees in a decade or so. His passion for tree plantation has taught him to treat these trees as his own children because in the 10 years of their marriage he and his wife Fatema have not been blessed with a child. His programme of tree plantation continues with no letup. He has produced this year 2,000 to 3,000 saplings in one of his neighbour's plot adjacent to a graveyard on condition he would keep the place clean. He also nurtured 4,000 to 5,000 saplings at his homestead for free distribution. His dream is to bring the entire Kurigram district under green coverage.
Now contrast this with the government tree plantation programme. The government has taken up an ambitious plan for planting 250 million saplings. This year the target has been set for plantation of 1.62 million saplings of fruit-bearing, timber and medicinal trees. A government order issued earlier instructed upazila agriculture officers to use 30 kilogram of cow dung for each sapling at the rate of Tk4.0 a kilo. It defies reason for two practical reasons: procurement of this massive amount of cow dung is impossible and even in some areas if the supply is enough, the quality of fresh cow dung is inappropriate for the purpose.
Wonder of wonders is the fact that the government order has been revised on the last day of the scheduled period on June 30. By June 30, the programme was supposed to be concluded and many upazilas, according to a report carried in a contemporary, duly complied with the earlier order. What is perplexing is that the authorities took a whole month to realise the mistakes they made by instructing application of 30 kilos of cow dung to each sapling. This is exactly how implementation or execution of programmes with tremendous merits is bungled or brought to an unceremonious conclusion. On paper the programes such as this look sound but when it comes to execution of the plan, unrealistic demands are made to foil the programme.
If an Anwar Hossain, an office attendant, and Badsha Mia, a daily wage labourer from Pirganj, Rangpur can make miracle happen, why should a well-merited progamme meet constraints of impractical planning? Badsha Mia's is yet another wonderful story. Once he suffered intense agony as he could not afford to buy fruits to feed his children. The poor man thought deep and long and decided to plant fruit trees on roadsides and other vacant spaces in his locality. Today lush green welcomes visitors to Badsha Mia's village and other surrounding areas. The fruit trees now bear fruits for the entire community to enjoy those. But the greenery has also turned into a verdant landscape to keep the temperature lower than other areas.
There are a few other 'gach pagols' (tree crazy) people in different parts of Bangladesh. They have proved if there is commitment, the programme of greening can be taken to a most satisfying level single-handedly. The good news is that both Anwar Hossain and Badshah Mia are no longer considered crazy but local people have joined hands with them. In case of Anwar Hossain's inspirational influence, school children have formed a group to take ahead the tree plantation programme. Badsha Mia has also inspired the local people to plant trees on vacant places of their homesteads. He is the supplier of saplings.
The government programme cannot match such people' dedication and ardour because the officers and employees responsible for execution of tree plantation programmes do not love the job; only they comply with the office order. The task does not end at planting trees, there is need for regular care. In most cases, tree plantation programme is inaugurated with much fanfare but then the trees are forgotten. No one monitor how the trees are doing, whether there is need for water or other inputs for survival of the saplings.
Passionate and dedicated souls like Anwar Hossain and Badshah Mia should be recognised officially and their stories should be included in textbooks for children so that the young ones can appreciate Nature and follow the good works done by such extraordinary people. Bangladesh will be blessed with more such outstanding tree lovers.
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
