Story of 68-yr-old lady- who planted 73,000 trees alone in memory of her husband

Janet Yegneswaran always feels a great sense of accomplishment when she plants trees. She is on an important mission to protect the environment and to fight the planet’s increasing temperature.

In fact, she has done more for the environment in the country compared to the added efforts of many private and government institutions. Hailing from Bengaluru, the lady has planted more than 73,000 trees since 2006 and now she plans to add more count in the coming years. Yes, you read it right!

The 68-year-old woman planted her first sapling i.e. a Honge tree, on June 5, 2006, in memory of her husband. During that time, the city of Bengaluru was witnessing large scale felling of trees.

Credits: Times Now

On World Environment Day, as her sapling count reached a mind-boggling 73,000, Janet expressed her happiness over the fact that her initiative has created a huge difference in the environment.

As per Bangalore Mirror, Janet planted trees in the city Bengaluru and also in the other parts of Karnataka. She already set high standards for herself and is now planning to reach the 75,000-mark milestone by the end of the years.

“It’s a proud moment to see the honge sapling planted by me, grow into a tree, near my house,” Janet told the newspaper.

The tree planting mission started after Janet lost her husband in the year 2005. During that time, the city of Bengaluru facing the wrath of felling of trees.

Credits: Bangalore Mirror

Since I felt very passionately for the loss of tree cover in Bengaluru, my friends suggested I do a dharna. But I felt I wanted to do something a little more productive,” said Janet.

“I formed the Rajanet Yegneswaran Charitable Trust in memory of my husband and decided to take up the planting of saplings in the neighbourhood,” she added.

A few months after the initiative was launched, Janet and a few other volunteers requested people in several neighbourhoods if they would be willing to plant saplings on the road. But, the reply was not so positive.

So, Janet made up her mind to start the initiative on her own and in just a few years, she also made a spirited attempt to become involved into other parts of Karnataka and also Tamil Nadu.

As of now, arrangements are now being made to plant 1,000 saplings in Coorg and 1,000 more in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

Hailing from Chennai, Chaithanya G is the Managing Director of TheYouth. He has dedicated his whole life to reading and writing.