Jadev Payeng has single-handedly grown a sprawling forest on a 1,360 acre (550-hectare) sandbar in the middle of the Brahmaputra. It now has many endangered animals, including at least 5 tigers, one of which bore 2 cubs recently.
It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. He alerted forest department & asked them if they could grow trees here. But department were of the view that nothing would grow there. Jadev was instead asked to try planting bamboo. It was painful but he did it & without anyone's help.
Leaving his education and home, he started living on the sandbar. He watered the plants morning and evening and pruned them. After a few years, the sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket. Soon, there were a variety of flora and fauna which burst in the sandbar, including endangered animals like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger.
It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. He alerted forest department & asked them if they could grow trees here. But department were of the view that nothing would grow there. Jadev was instead asked to try planting bamboo. It was painful but he did it & without anyone's help.
Leaving his education and home, he started living on the sandbar. He watered the plants morning and evening and pruned them. After a few years, the sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket. Soon, there were a variety of flora and fauna which burst in the sandbar, including endangered animals like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger.
"Nature has made a food chain; why can't we stick to it? Who would protect these animals if we, as superior beings, start hunting them?"-Jadav Payeng
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