Devender Sura: Haryana’s Tree Man

Devender Sura – Popularly Known as the ‘Tree Man’ of
Haryana

Devender Sura, a constable in the Haryana Police, is Known as Haryana’s
‘Tree Man’, but why? Wait, we’ll let you know. He is an athlete, and a father
of two, who turned environmentalist post noticing the decrease in forest
cover in his state and chose to rebound that on his own.

His journey started in 2012 when he began planting trees in Sonipat. He
says, “We plant around 50 thousand trees every year, with an emphasis on
Indian species like lilac, banyan, and fig.” With his father bearing all family
expenses, he expends his earnings on a tree plantation. “I’ve been
spending all my income on this for the past twelve years.” His motivation for
the act is that Materialism is increasing. The public is cutting trees for it. As
a result, bird species are losing their homes, which is resulting in the
demise of many bird species.

We are disturbing the earth’s balance, and need to restore it”, he says.
Through a public campaign, Sura has so far connected with 11,500 youth
across his state and they plant trees, preserve them, and assure their
safety. “We address them, Paryavaran Mitra”. He recalls a moment when
Haryana had a lot of greenery. “Our forest cover is 90 percent destroyed,
and water levels are moving down. I wish people to be conscious of the
cost of materialism they had to pay” More interestingly, he has inaugurated
a “Janata Nursery” along the Sonipat-Gohana highway, where around 25k
saplings of different species of trees are formulated each year for
distribution free of cost.