Most people call him crusader for protection of environment while some take him lightly but hardships of life have failed to deter 55 years old Hira Lal Yadav from undertaking long journeys across length and breadth of the country on his bicycle campaigning against issues like deteriorating environment, spread of harmony and save girl child. He is covering the Sangam city during his journey that started on December 5, 2012 from Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh and will end at Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Through the exhaustive journey, Lal has been spreading the message of conserving environment carrying saplings on a bicycle which has no seat. He plants, donates and carries saplings along the way and promotes environment awareness and harmony among citizens, irrespective of their state or religion. This time 'save the girl child' drive is also on Hira Lal's agenda. Starting from various districts of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, the crusader is in the city of Kumbh where he aims to meet more and more people and sensitise them towards social issues.
Remarkably, while passing through Balia, Hira Lal visited the house of the Delhi rape victim and planted a sapling in her house. Likewise, he purposely visited the district of Gola Ghat in Assam where he met the parents of Captain Jintu Gogai, the Kargil martyr who was conferred with Vir Chakra.
"Although by removing the seat of my bicycle I face discomfort on such a long journey, but this is what the human race has been doing with the environment because of which we are adding to our woes," said Lal while talking to TOI on Saturday. "Just as my cycle is handicapped without the seat, so is the environment unless we rise to the occasion," added Lal, who reached Allahabad after crossing several cities of the three states. He has undertaken several other journeys since, 1998 including two in several East Asian countries.
Carrying minimum load on his bicycle, Lal does take a rest, of about 6 hours after covering the distance of around 100 kilometers per day. A large sized poly-bag, on his cycle carrier, contains his make-shift bed, pillow and few pairs of dresses while the handle has national flag besides which the frame has space for two earthen pots, each with a sapling, which Lal collects from the cities he passes. The wife of this 55 year old crusader is a roadside fruit vendor.
In a half-sleeve Khadi kurta, this man has taken up several journeys on a bicycle in the past. Demanding freeing of prisoners of the 1971 Indo-Pak war to showing solidarity for the nation after the Mumbai attack - in which journey he was joined, although for a short distance, by K Unnikrishnan, father of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, the army officer who was killed in the Mumbai attack operation. Lal has even gone to Kargil heights too.
"On visiting the ongoing Maha Kumbh, I will try to meet as many as I can and make them acquainted with the mission of my life so that they also carry it with them," he said.
Among various places he visited at Sangam city, Hira Lal planted two saplings at GPO in the presence of
K K Yadav director, postal service, Allahabad region. "The most remarkable side of his personality is his simplicity as he carries on with his mission without creating any hype", said Yadav.
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