IRS Officer creates 95 mini forests in 4 years using ancient Indian and Japanese techniques.

Rohit Mehra, an Indian Revenue Services Officer of the batch 2004, has created 95 human-made mini forests in different parts of India within 4 years. Read more to know more about his life and expertise.

Today, we are choked with words such as global warming and climate change. A climate crisis hovers like an apocalypse over us. If we go by science, news and environmentalists – we know a sure shot solution is to have more forest belts. But forests aren’t made in a day, one might argue. Or are they?

Rohit Mehra, an Indian Revenue Services Officer, has created 95 human-made mini forests in different parts of India within four years. He calls them ‘oxygen chambers’. He has done what would otherwise take many years. Inevitably, we marvel at what wizardry does he carry up his sleeve to do so.

The Secret Sauce

“The secret sauce is that there is no secret. It’s all readily available science.” he quips with a giggle. He explains that he used the combination of two ancient techniques – Vriksha Ayurveda and Miyawaki. This eclectic combination was responsible for creating lush green forests in cities including Ludhiana, Jammu, Delhi, Hisar, Surat, etc. The ancient technique of Vriksha Ayurveda involves the nurturing of plants and allows the control of plant diseases without using any chemicals. 

Combining both techniques, Rohit embarked on his journey of sustainable living. He explained that they dug the soil and mixed it with manure made from leaves, cow dung and other kinds of compost. They also used agricultural waste like stubble, rice husk, etc to improve the fertility of the soil. Then they planted a variety of local trees like Neem, Amla, Bargad among others, close to each other on waste patches of land. The plants exchange nutrition among themselves and do not put a lot of pressure on the soil. Thus, the trees in the mini forests grow 10 times faster and produce 10 times more oxygen. Mehra has recently collaborated with the National Green Tribunal to create a green forest around Buddha Nullah in Punjab.

Join Telegram Channel [su_quote cite=”Rohit Mehra, IRS Officer”]“It was an ordinary day of 2016, my son got a day off from school because of pollution. I was taken aback. I realised that this situation is so bad that it needs to be addressed at the earliest.And there’s no better way than having plants around us to control pollution. I knew my mission that very moment”[/su_quote]

IRS Officer Rohit Mehra: The Green Man of India

Fondly known as the ‘Green Man of India,’ Rohit is well-known for creating beautiful vertical gardens. More importantly, he imparts this knowledge at different places to make sure people can replicate this idea. His shared wisdom accounts for about 500 vertical gardens in various parts of the country. These vertical gardens could be found at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, at railways stations, police stations, judicial complexes and educational institutions. The largest of them, using 17,000 bottles, is created at the Income Tax Department premises at Ludhiana’s Rishi Nagar. 

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The tree ambulance and tree hospital

Rohit has also opened a plant hospital and ambulance for addressing issues on plant diseases in Amritsar. He shared that he with the help of a team of volunteers provides 33 different services for plants and their welfare. He plans to open such plant hospitals in every city of India in the future. By the end of this year, he plans to create at least a thousand of these ‘oxygen chambers’ across India.

Rohit juggles his two roles as a civil servant and that of an environmentalist very well. Contrary to a common notion, he believes that the luxury of taking two different roles keeps his mind innovative. “Novelty is to mind what nutrition is to the body,” he says profoundly. His mission is far from being started as of now, he says. It would find its bigger role when it translates to the next generation. The start of which he has already started seeing in his son. “He wants to become a plant-based scientist, the younger wants to become a gardener.” he laughs. “ Kids will always learn by imitating their elder ones, it’s only plausible that our sustainable habits will catch up with them too”.