Doc on mission to spread bloom

CHANDIGARH: An

Ayurveda practitioner

from a village in Sirsa district has been distributing flower saplings free of cost among people for six years to nake the world a more "beautiful place".

A resident of Darbi village,

Ramji Jaimal

(50) says he started by planting flower saplings in front of his village's government school where people used to dump dead animals. "In the first year, I distributed 2,000 saplings. But, by now, I have started distributing nearly 1.25 crore saplings in the region," says Jaimal, who is also a zila parishad member of Sirsa.

Jaimal uses over two acres for planting seeds and saplings. Each year, he plants seeds of 24 varieties of flowers, including calendula, white stock, flox, Holyhock, cosmos, marigold, dahliya, daisy, poppy, ice, aster and gazania. He starts his mission from October 2 each year by sowing seeds of flowers. Soon after, the saplings are grown enough to be planted at other places.

The idea is to cover village parks, guesthouses, colonies, industries, roadsides, and even individual households. "He has taken a vow to replace dirt with flowers in his own campaign that he runs single-handedly," says

Sunil Kumar Gulati

, a senior IAS officer and Haryana additional chief secretary.

Gulati is associated with the NGO Aapsi, which plays a role in spreading information about Jaimal's mission. "The demand for flower saplings has gone up so much that individuals and organizations now queue up in front of Jaimal's place," adds Gulati.