VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR
Hazaribag, March 12: Ashutosh Pandey, a 24-year-old man has embarked on a Vande Mataram padayatra in order to spread the message to save nature. Pandey has plans to cover 10,000 km covering 21 states to reach Ayodhya by 2024.
On Saturday, Pandey reached Hazaribag and met deputy commissioner Nancy Sahay. While talking to the officials, Pandey said that so far he had crossed 42 districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar covering 2100 km on foot, and now he has entered the third state which is Jharkhand. “During my journey in the two states, I conducted seminars in 51 educational institutions telling youths about the importance of nature,” he added. Pandey said he will reach Ranchi on Sunday and meet Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren to talk to him about his mission to save nature.
Talking to Lagatar, Pandey said preserving nature is a global issue and if not taken care of, people will have to purchase oxygen by the year 2050 for survival. Pandey said he left his job and started this padayatra to spread awareness among youths. “We have 55 percent youths in the country and they need to know their role for family, society and country,” he added.
Pandey said that he also met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar when reached Patna during this journey. A resident of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Pandey said he started his journey on December 4 in 2022 from Ayodhya. His journey is also set to end in Ayodhya in 2024.
Pandey further said during seminars in schools, he targets students of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12. “I urge union government and educational institutions as well to spread awareness among students about this issue. I think if youth take this responsibility, we will be able to tackle this issue in a more effective way,” he added. Notably, Pandey also planted 350 saplings during this padayatra.
