Testimonials of FES Volunteers: Ajay Laddha – 2020-21

 A few months ago, through FES, we had a unique opportunity to visit 14 Trees site at Vetale about 65 kilometers from Pune.

After we turned left from Rajgurunagar to Vetale we were greeted by an army of trees, attired in bamboo tree guards standing 10 feet apart. And further when we took a left turn from the Vetale village and had traveled a few hundred meters, we were suddenly transported to a thriving jungle , with beautiful native trees, myriad bird calls and some amazing butterflies .

We were greeted by Pravin Bhagwat, the founder of 14 Trees, who is also a part of the current ES batch. Pravin has been a successful tech entrepreneur and has successfully scaled up 2 companies in the wireless space. His vision is to help India get back its forest cover and help create a forest cover of over 6000 acres around the Bhimashankar area. 

While Pravin had bought the land in 2014, the first 4 years were spent in recharging the underground aquifers through building bunds and check dams. It took 3 years for the wells to start filling up after which he started the planting activity.

The project really scaled up during the COVID period, when Pravin innovated in different ways to adapt to these difficult situations and in the process ensured very positive outcomes on many fronts.  Steps were also taken to scale up the project from around 20 acres to around 200 acres.

The project also slowly started employing the local tribals from the neighbouring Thakkar community, who were earlier working in the neighbouring Chakan industrial estate and had lost their jobs. The project now employs close to 150 people from this community.

ajay_laddha@yahoo.co.in