‘Khelan-Van’ is the only hope for Vrindavan’s Green Heritage

Vrindavan, India – March 22, 2013 (VNN) via vrindavantoday.org

by JAGANNATH PODDAR

With submitting the memorandum to the District Forest Officer Shri K.C. Vajpayee and the District Tourism Officer Shri D.K. Sharma, the Braj-Vrindavan Heritage Alliance (BVHA) begins to demand ‘Kehlan Van’ on the bank of Yamuna between Vrindavan and Mathura.  On the invitation of theFrineds of Vrindavan, the implementing partner organization of the BVHA the two officials attended the meeting at the ashram of the Vrindavan Swarupotthan Paribhavana &  BVHA mentor  Baba Sevak Sharan.

Baba showed them the conservation map of Vrindavan and told them in detail how Shri Dham Vrindavan’s economy can be developed without any destruction of the ecology. The speakers in meeting said that the so called development plan has no room for the forestry in Vrindavan and moreover no room is left to plant trees in Vrindavan. Those who never visited Vrindavan have a view in their mind that Vrindavan is full of sacred groves and forests, but when they come here they find it as a suburb of Delhi, which hurts their feelings about Vrindavan.

Vrindavan is associated with the name van, the participants of the meeting exhorted to the officials to help Vrindavan by restricting it to transform into Vrinda-pur (city).  The memorandum says that the nature of Yamuna is to change its bed every year; people encroach on this land to build their houses.  The letter emphasizes that the land on both side of Yamuna 500 feet each side should be acquired by the Forestry department and developed into a reserved forest. The proposed forest can be named as ‘Khelan-Van’ or the play ground of the Lord.

The BVHA said that the ‘Khelan Van’ should be incorporated in the tourism master plan so that the proposal can be easily accepted by the government and the land can be transferred to the Forestry department. If the idea of the ‘Khelan-Van’ materializes then the ten kilometers stretch in both sides of the river will bring back the glimpse of Krishna’s time of Vrindavan said Baba Madan Bihari Das. Acharya Naresh Narayan another senior member of the BVHA said that the importance of Yamuna increases when it enters Vraj. So the ambience of the Yamuna Flood plain should be according to the mood of Yamuna as a goddess.

The meeting was also addressed by Smt. Braj Bala Gaur, who is a member in the Vrindavan Municipal Board.  Smt. Gaur said that she brought the proposal of getting Vrindavan declared as a ‘holy city’ in Municipal Board meeting, which was unanimously resolved by the board and been sent to the state government for its approval. Similar proposal can be introduced in the Vrindavan Municipal Board again. She said that the ‘Khelan-Van’ can also be used for making peacock sanctuary.

The BVHA concluded that it will step up this demand with the State Government and may request the National Green Tribunal to pass an order in favor of this cause. The officials promised that their departments will work closely withFriends of Vrindavan when they make their departmental plans about Vrindavan.