“Every summer vacation of mine was spent in Nizamabad, right beside a dense forest. My maternal uncle was a forest officer, so we would take a stick and walk into the forest just for fun. The fear of animals and insects didn’t bother me. It was only natural for me to love and care about nature as I grew up. Even as a child, I would carry a roll film camera and click pictures in the forest. A few years later, in 1993, I tried wildlife photography for the first time in a national park. With time, my passion only grew stronger. As I grew older, I realised that there’s a lot of damage being done to forests and nature in general. Urbanisation has taken a toll on greenary and the damage can’t be ignored. That’s when I started researching and understanding ways of conservation. Tree translocation is one of the three main areas that I work on with my team in our organisation- VATA Foundation.

One of our first projects was the footover bridge in Begumpet opposite Hyderabad Public School. As an alumnus, I remember the risk involved in crossing the road everyday. When it was finally decided to build a bridge, I was more than happy but it was at the cost of a few trees being cut. Instead, we tried to translocate them – out of 16 trees, 13 trees survived. When we translocate trees, we don’t use any chemicals in the process. From LB Nagar flyover to KPHB foot over bridge, we have translocated several trees- about 1500+ trees in Telangana so far. We don’t ask for money from the government. We just need permission and we do it on voluntary basis. Yet, authorities don’t co-operate sometimes. Permission isn’t granted and we’ve had to file PILs as well. Tiger conservation is also a key area of focus for me. I worked on this project to Save Tigers at Tippeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (Maharashtra). We provided water tankers, 3,500+ saplings and we’re also currently working on creating a rain-fed lake. These are all tiny steps to ensure we maintain a balance in the environment and create a safe place for other living beings too. Growing a tree wherever we want doesn’t yield results. It needs to be studied and analysed. But this is a start and hopefully, we’ll keep it going!”

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