For nearly three decades, Bishnu Hazra of Bharaora Tea Garden in Sreemangal has been quietly leading a personal drive to make his surroundings greener. A tea worker and part-time jhalmuri seller, he has planted more than 15,000 saplings and distributed around 7,000 since 1997, turning roadside spaces, open land, and parts of tea estates into pockets of green.

Inspired as a Class 9 student by a poem of Rabindranath Tagore, Bishnu later strengthened that commitment while working as a newspaper hawker between 2014 and 2018 and reading reports on environmental damage. He covers most of the cost from his limited income, plants fruit, medicinal, and timber trees, and also raises awareness through social media and by gifting saplings at birthdays, weddings, and memorial events. Locals say his work has changed the area and inspired others to plant trees as well.