A mosque imam in Bhola's Charfasson upazila has spent 34 years planting fruit and medicinal trees along village roads at his own expense, Krishi Shomoy's Bhola correspondent reports. Rezaul Kibria Babul, imam of the Kalapania Baitul Mamur Jame Mosque near Janata Bazar in Omarpur union, sold inherited property and used his savings to set up a nursery, where he raises seedlings before planting them out on roadsides.

By his own count he has planted roughly 50,000 to 60,000 seedlings. The rows of palmyra palms on both sides of Baul Road in Omarpur village are his work, and he is now planting along four more roads in the village.

Residents told the paper that besides palmyra he has planted fruit and medicinal trees which, after years of tending, now give shade and clean air to passers-by and farmers. The avenue of palms has become a local attraction, drawing visitors from a distance.

"I have been planting trees beside the roads for almost three decades alongside my duties as imam, to keep the balance of the environment and to earn the pleasure of Allah in this life and the next," Babul said. "Lightning strikes have increased in the last few years, so I am now concentrating on palmyra seeds and seedlings to protect people from lightning. From time to time I take advice from the Forest Department."

Charfasson upazila nirbahi officer Rumana Afroz welcomed the imam's self-funded planting programme, the report said.

Palmyra palms are widely regarded in coastal Bhola as a natural shield against lightning, and roadside fruit and medicinal trees have changed the look of what was an ordinary rural road while giving local farmers and travellers shade.

Reporting: Bhola correspondent, Krishi Shomoy.

Source: Krishi Shomoy