You have often heard that elderly people or retirees are given pensions, but have you ever heard of pensions being given to an old or elderly tree?
You will surely be surprised to read and hear this, but now the government of Haryana, a neighboring state of Indian Punjab, has come up with a pension scheme for trees over 75 years old.
The name of the scheme is ‘Pran Vayu Devata Yojana’ and its aim is to take care of trees.
A senior official of the Haryana State Forest Department said that the scheme will cover trees that are at least 75 years old.
He said that if there is a tree in an institution, panchayat or any other place, whose age is more than 75 years, the Haryana government has implemented a scheme of giving a pension of Rs 2,750 per month.
Which trees will get the pension?
A survey was conducted to find out the number of such trees in Haryana.
Apart from this, applications were also sought from the concerned people who have such trees on their land and are taking care of them.
According to Jai Kumar, ‘requests for issuing pension for three thousand 810 such trees were given in the state, out of which 112 were selected for pension.’
These trees also include trees of religious importance.
“The advantage of this scheme is that when the concerned people get some financial help from the government, they will be able to take care of these trees in a better way,” says Jayakumar.
Age verification
According to the administration, a committee consisting of village elders and sarpanches was formed to verify the age of the trees. Apart from this, the help of the Forest Department was also taken.
“For us, these trees are like our elders,” says Jayakumar. A tree in our village dates back to before the partition of India (separation of India and Pakistan in 1947).
He said that ‘we used to hear that there are 500-year-old trees in other countries, now we will see the same in our country and can say that India also has such old trees, these old trees should be saved. , they are our pride.’
When the panchayats came to know about this government scheme, they took the responsibility of taking care of the trees and started building terraces for the maintenance of the trees.
A village panchayat member said that there are about five trees in his village which were included in the scheme.
‘The amount should increase’
Panchayats say the government should go ahead and increase the pension amount.
Gurpreet Singh, panchayat member of village Ramba, says that since independence, a tree has been planted in his village and the villagers respect these trees a lot.
“Whenever there is a festival, the villagers also light lamps and worship these trees,” he explains.
Forest department official Jai Kumar said that old trees are part of common heritage and are the main source of oxygen for life.
“Such trees are very important for human life and environment, they need to be protected.”