Plantation of saplings, eco talk mark Harela

Tribune reporters

Mussoorie, July 16

The Harela festival that marks the advent of Shravan month was celebrated across the Garhwal region with fervour and gaiety today. The festival is now incorporated by the Congress government as a state festival.

At Mussoorie, despite heavy rain, Congress workers led by local women cell president Jasvir Kaur planted 50 saplings of various fruit-bearing and ornamental trees on the premises of Sterling Resort. She said the large presence of resort employees was indicative that people were aware of the need to preserve the fragile environment. She hoped that the campaign would continue during the rainy season.

Species such as burans, chinar, oak and devdar were planted as they were known to assist in recharging the aquifers, she added.

Sterling Resort GM Rohit Sareen, HR manager Hemant Garg, Alok Dwivedi, Mahila Congress workers, namely Uma, Bala Devi, Madhu and Annu attended the occasion.

In Jaunpur development block, the festival was celebrated with plantation of around 700 saplings. Out of these, 300 saplings were of mango, 300 of guava and 100 of pomegranate. These were planted at Kempty, Dhanaulti and Nainbagh, Horticulture Department in charge Vikram Danu said.

Rajendar Singh Rawat, Badri range officer, said under the ‘Hamara School, Hamara Vriksh’ scheme, the target of planting around 3,00,000 saplings had been kept. Out of these, 210 species of oak, papaya and silver oak were planted at Nainbagh Government College, Nainbagh Primary Health Centre, Vidya Mandir School and Government Inter College.

Several saplings were given away to students so that they could plant them at their schools in the nearby villages. Dr Virendar Rawat, Pradeep Kavi, Jot Singh Rawat, Mohan Lal Nirala, Yaam Singh Chauhan, Jot Singh Rawat, forest officials Anand Singh Kandari and Sunder Singh Panwar were present on the occasion.

At Kempty, around 200 saplings of lemon, bhimal, fodder leaves bearing trees, tun etc, were planted under the supervision of forest range officer Neelam Bartwal and Shoorvir Singh Panwar, sarpanch of Sia village.

Harela festival was also observed at Dhanaulti where members of Eco Park Committee, students from Vidya Mandir and various government schools planted more than 200 saplings to mark the occasion.

Eco Park secretary Kuldeep Negi spoke on various environmental issues.

At Uttarkashi, District Maistrate Dipendar Chaudhry inaugurated the festival by planting saplings of bel patra species at Barahat Forest Range. Earlier, he paid a visit to the Kandar Devta Temple and sought blessings for peace and prosperity of the people. He heard the grievances of the people who demanded installation of solar lights at Sangrali village to which the DM directed the officials to do the needful. Later, the DM reached Pata village on foot and heard the grievances of the villagers. The residents said their village was suffering from land subsidence and measures to stop it should be taken immediately. They also demanded construction of a link road to the high school. Chaudhry directed the officials concerned to construct the road using funds under the disaster head. He directed the officials to install solar lights in the village immediately.

Kumaon prays for prosperity

Pithoragarh: Harela festival was celebrated across the Kumoan region for the prosperity of families and the community on the first day of Shravan month today.

According to an age-old ritual, five to seven crop seeds are sown in a pot nine days before Sankranti (first day of the month), preferably in the mud taken from a field which is considered most fertile in that particular area. “The panted seeds are cut on the ninth day and adorned on the heads of family members after worshiping a mud statue of Goddess Harkali, which is considered auspicious for the prosperity of the household,” said Dr Ajay Rawat, an environmentalist based in Nainital.

Cultural historians said the festival of Harela was an age-old celebration of the region and indicated that the settlement in the Kumaon region was from centuries, even before the Aryans reached here.

“The festival indicates beginning of agricultural practices in the region and confirms that the Kumoani society had settled thousands of years ago and was the first to start the occupation of agriculture and linked it with natural powers to get them prosperity,” said Dr Ram Singh, a cultural historian from the region.