Whenever Mr O P Sharma Vidhyarthi speaks about rare plant species, the Biodiversity Act 2002 comes to my mind. When this dendrophile explains things during his tree talks, it is all biodiversity work which remains unfulfilled by authorities at the helm. It seems this man is doing the work which the Government of J&K was supposed to do. Tree Talk campaign which was initiated by OP Sharma ji, a 1987 batch Indian Forest Service- Officer, in 2010 completed its 15 years recently. He continued with his tree talk campaign even after his retirement in March 2020 and I had written a detailed article on Mr Sharma’s work in this esteemed newspaper titled “An Institution of Forestry”. I believe the tree talk work has gained more momentum after his retirement and that is highly appreciated. In Govt service an officer has everything at his disposal but continuing the work with meagre resources and support is a challenging task. I remember April this year, soon after Pahalgam terror attack, Sharma ji visited Srinagar in connection with 1617th tree talk at Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine -IIIM Srinagar.

Event held at Jammu

When such a passionate tree lover and reputed forester invites you for an annual event you cannot say no to him. I, along with my friend Ajaz Sofi, went to Jammu in advance to attend the event for completion of 15 years of tree talk campaign. On Dec 19th 2025 first event was held at Botanical Garden University of Jammu, followed by another event at Raika Park Sidhra Bypass. The event at University of Jammu was presided by Prof Neelu Rohmetra the acting Vice Chancellor. Former DGPs Dr Ashok Bhan, Dilbagh Singh and Dr S P Vaid were also present on the occasion and appreciated work done by O P Sharma. Former PCCF S D Swatantra, HoD Department of Botany Prof Susheel Verma, Prof Yashpal Sharma also addressed the gathering of civil society members, environmental........

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