Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde plants over 6.5 lakh trees across Maharashtra through environmental campaign Sahyadri Devrai
मुख्य बातें
- •Veteran actor Sayaji Shinde has planted over 650,000 trees across 48 locations in Maharashtra through his environmental campaign Sahyadri Devrai
- •The initiative began in 2016 after Shinde witnessed villagers suffering under harsh sun with no trees, sparking the idea to plant trees as a first step toward rural relief
- •Shinde planted 2,000 trees in his village first and later expanded the effort; he has also transplanted over 200 banyan trees and plans to set up a nursery for saplings
- •The campaign was inspired by his love for his mother, who passed away at 92, and his family’s loss of land to a dam project in 1978, later compensated only in 2022
Veteran Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde, best known for his roles in films such as *Shool*, *Sarkar Raj*, and *Sanju*, has quietly transformed Maharashtra’s landscape through an ambitious environmental campaign called Sahyadri Devrai. Since its launch, the initiative has planted more than 650,000 trees across 48 locations in the state, marking a powerful convergence of cinema, social responsibility, and ecological restoration.
The campaign began as a deeply personal tribute to Shinde’s mother, who passed away at the age of 92. Speaking in a candid conversation with Uncut and Ashish Vidyarthi on his YouTube channel, Shinde recalled the moment in 2016 when a severe drought gripped Maharashtra. During a relief visit to a village, he observed villagers gathered in an open field under the harsh sun with no trees in sight. “There was not a single tree anywhere. That is when it struck me: the first step to helping villages was planting trees,” he said. The experience, combined with his love for his aging mother, became the emotional catalyst for Sahyadri Devrai.
