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Mehsana environmentalist is state’s first Green Ambassador

Company Name : Environxchange.com Source : Times Of India - Ahmedabad

Palanpur:

Gujarat has got its first ‘Green Ambassador’ with an environmentalist from Mehsana Jitendra Patel being chosen for the great honour. Patel is the first person of the state to have been bestowed this honour, said an official in the state’s social forestry department in Gandhinagar.

Deputy conservator of forests, Mehsana, Anuradha Sahu said, “Patel is an active worker and has done intensive work in afforestation. His appointment was pending since a resolution to this effect had been passed by state government’s social forestry department on May 13 this year. I am really pleased to appoint him as Green Ambassador.”

“The honour conferred on me by the state is actually an honour for all environmentalists and nature lovers,” Jitendra told TOI. Besides 10 to 15 lakh trees in his Tirupati Nature Park at Visanagar in Mehsana and Derol in Sabarkantha, he has sown about 7 lakh more trees in north Gujarat.

Jitendra also shared his honour with other nature lovers who have helped him with the cause. “I salute Banaskantha’s collector R J Patel, who is an environmentalist as well. He has been doing marvellous work in promoting greenery through his ‘Vrukshanarayan Katha,’ which he has composed himself. His work needs to be internationally recognised,” Jitendra said.

“I also admire former superintendent of police, Mehsana, Harikrishna Patel, who during his tenure planted 30,000 treesaplings, including those in police stations,” he added

Besides the state’s honour, Jitendra has also been conferred upon with an honour of ‘Indira Priyadarshini Vriskh Mitra’ award and the ‘Patidar Ratna’ by All India Patidar Sabha for his project ‘Waste to best land’.

Jitendra said, “A visit to Kenya in 1997 to my friend Anil Shah’s nature park inspired me to reclaim the riverbed and turn the wasteland into nature park.”

Source said there are three categories of green messengers who will share information and spread the message of best green practices. The three categories include: Ambassador, Guard and Motivater.