Jesuit Ecologist blasts cutting trees for Holi Festival

(March 08, 2012) Jesuit Father Robert Athickal joined environmentalists to decry felling trees during Holi, the festival of colours that India celebrates on Thursday. "We have been appealing to people not to cut or prune trees," said the priest, founder director of Tarumitra (friends of tree), a student green group based in Patna, capital of Bihar state. People in Bihar cut or prune large number of trees a week before Holi for Holika dahan, a ritual symbolizing burning of evil, on the eve of the festival. People flout forest laws to chop off branches and fell trees as forest department and other officials look the other way. Father Athickal, who has been promoting healthy environment through students around India, said the practice causes severe damage to green trees. Most destruction this year has taken place in Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur districts, he added. The trees, he added, can neither raise their voice nor seek justice. “Our volunteers have been urging people to burn garbage instead of trees,” he said. The 58-year-old priest stressed the need to educate people not to target trees during the festival. Another green activist, Patna-based Ashook Ghosh, agreed with the priest and asserted people have no right to cut or prune trees. “Bonfires have never been a part of our age-old traditions," he explained. Vaidhnath Jha, an expert on Hindu scriptures, noted a “race among people to collect wood for bonfires” and perform the rituals without bothering about environment. “There is no religious sanction for this, he said. In Patna alone, people yesterday lit bonfires in more than 1,000 places.