GANGNI, Meherpur — Winter has not yet fully withdrawn from the landscape. Sunny, mild days settle gently on the skin. New shoots are sprouting on leafless trees, the cuckoo’s call is stirring the countryside awake, and the breeze carries the scents of various flowers. In the meantime, silk-cotton and palash blooms along village roads in Meherpur’s Gangni upazila have painted the landscape in vivid colors.
A tour of different parts of the upazila showed rows of silk-cotton trees lining both sides of the roads, with red flowers in bloom. But palash trees are comparatively fewer. Silk-cotton is more visible on roads in villages such as Tetulbaria, Kalyanpur, Bamundi, Karamdi, Debipur, Baliaghat and Harabhanga. Palash is seen in only a few places.
Local residents said nature is decked out in a stunning new dress with the colors of silk-cotton and palash. But as the number of palash trees has fallen, the same eye-catching sight is no longer common, they said.
Faisal Ahammed of Kalyanpur village said: “There are many silk-cotton trees along the roads in our area. Almost every tree is in bloom. A red glow has spread all around. If there were more palash trees, the sight would be even more enchanting.”
Passer-by Raju Ahmed said: “One palash tree in Palashi village is in full bloom. It looks beautiful. But palash trees are rarely seen now. This flower gives nature a new form.”
Rasel Ahmed of Pukurpara village in Bamundi union said silk-cotton flowers have bloomed along various roads and beside homes in the upazila. Planting more flowering trees along the roads would enhance the beauty, he said.
Md. Touhidul Islam, panel chairman of Tetulbaria Union Parishad, said there are very few palash trees in the area and that palash is slowly disappearing, while there are still many silk-cotton trees. Planting palash and silk-cotton along the roads would beautify the environment and help nature regain its colorful form, he said. He said he would try to plant palash trees on his own initiative.
Hamim Haider, the in-charge officer of the district forest department, said about 20,000 timber and fruit trees will be planted in June and July using the forest department’s operating budget. There are no specific instructions on planting flowering trees along roads, he said, but if higher authorities issue such instructions, the initiative could be taken.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report