Plantation challenge by Ollywood actors

Sandip.Bal@timesgroup.com


Cyclone Fani had torn Bhubaneswar’s greenery to shreds in May. And so, while celebrities around the world are busy uncapping bottles and looking older, their Odisha counterparts are busy challenging each other to plant more trees. They are nominating three friends to take up the

#PlantATreeChallenge

, where one is supposed to do exactly that — plant a sapling, make a video of it and post it online, challenging three more friends to do the same.

Actor Akash Dasnayak started the challenge on Rath Yatra and nominated three of his Ollywood friends. By now, over 30 people from the industry have already taken up the challenge and many of their fans have also have been planting trees, drawing inspiration from their stars. “I felt it was a unique way to make more people aware of environmental issues and the need to protect it. The city lost most of its green cover during the cyclone and planting as many trees as possible is the need of the hour. And that can only be possible when more people come forward. I felt involving actors and actresses would motivate common people to plant more trees and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Akash told us.

Among those who have since accepted the challenge and planted a sapling are actors Samaresh Routray, Arindam Ray, Sambeet Acharya, Partha Sarathi Ray, Subhasis Sharma, Poonam Mishra, Jhilik Bhattacharjee and Anisha Anie. “It’s a good initiative by Akash and we thought it’s better to take part in this challenge than the others doing the rounds on social media. It’s a more meaningful activity,” said Samaresh. To this Poonam added, “I found this challenge interesting and it’s a really nice way to help protect our environment. If every person plants one sapling and cares for it, there will be jungles and green cover everywhere.”

Sabyasachi Mishra and Anu Choudhury, who have always been associated with many plantation drives, are yet to take part in the challenge. “Parta Sarathi had nominated me recently and I’ve seen the video. But I haven’t been able to take up the challenge as I was keeping a bit busy. I was also part of some plantation drives carried out by different organisations. But yes, I’ll definitely take up the challenge and nominate three friends,” Anu told us.