Noida. Green trees, chirping of birds and cool shade of trees in this scorching heat, that too in a concrete jungle like Noida. It sounds like a joke but it is true. Sorkha village in Noida gives a different feel in a concrete jungle. In Noida, the work of building new buildings by cutting trees had started increasing very fast. To supply oxygen to the people living in big buildings, the Noida administration has prepared a plan to develop a big oxygen strip. In this HCL resolved to provide financial help. Then the work of developing it was started under the leadership of environmental worker Peepal Baba. Today, a vast urban forest of 70,000 trees has grown in an area that was deserted six years ago. This forest has become a good source of pure air for the dense population living nearby. People of NCR come here on picnics during the holidays and enjoy living in the midst of the environment.
Former DM of Gautam Budh Nagar district BN Singh says that Sorkha village was part of Noida Authority. Later it came to NCR. In this area, less than 2% of the area was covered with trees. Amidst the rapid increase in population here, the biggest challenging task was to develop an oxygen factory through Dense-Forestry. The people of the village were involved in this important work. He was associated with the project by contacting Nidhi, the project manager of HCL. Along with this, Swami Prem Parivartan aka Peepal Baba was entered in this project. Today this forest has developed into a strong lung on this large area. After the development of the forest at this once deserted place, now there is a habitat of many insects, moths, animals and birds. Many foreign birds have also started coming here. The biodiversity developed here attracts everyone’s mind. Now about 58 types of creatures are adorning this urban forest.
The forest of Sorkha has now become completely self-sufficient. In the early stages of urban forest development, water is supplied by tankers, but when the trees begin to grow, the movement of tankers becomes very difficult. Therefore, the dependence on artificial ponds for irrigation of plants increases significantly. Peepal Baba tells that wherever he starts making artificial forest. There they also build a pond at the most sloping place. These artificial ponds are filled with water year after year after 5 to 6 years from the collection of rain water every year. The more water you remove from these ponds, the more water will come back from the ground. Sahid, a member of Peepal Baba’s team, said that when the water tankers stopped coming during the Corona period, this artificial pond located in the middle of the forest saved the lives of these trees and surrounding creatures of the forest of Sorkha.
first published:April 28, 2022, 4:11 p.m.
