With State honours, the city on Friday bid a tearful adieu to noted environmental activist T. Shobheendran who initiated thousands of youngsters to the world of nature conservation and inspired many others with his unyielding passion for social forestry initiatives. The 76-year-old breathed his last at a private hospital here on Thursday following a cardiac arrest.
For more than three days, he had been under treatment for age-related ailments and uneasiness. Despite ill health, the septuagenarian was an inevitable part of the city’s green movements. After his retirement as professor of Economics from Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, he had devoted his life fully to programmes and campaigns to improve the participation of students in planting trees and their conservation.
With his passion for riding a green-coloured motorbike, apart from wearing a green attire and cap, he emerged as a one-man army for his self-declared mission to ‘save earth’. Even before the entry of government machinery with focussed campaigns for afforestation and social forestry drives, Prof. Shobheendran, who was fondly called ‘Shobheendran Mash’, had managed to travel miles ahead with his pioneering social interventions for the cause. He was later part of the State Wildlife Board and the National Afforestation and Eco Development Board as a member.
Environmental activists who worked closely with him remembered that it was the campus of the Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College that first witnessed his passion for afforestation initiatives. Under his leadership, around 100 acres of barren land around the campus had been turned into a green space with over 5,000 trees. Since then, he had been constantly associated with the planting of hundreds of saplings along the road and other barren public places.
A winner of the State government’s Vriksha Mithra Award in 2007, he was part of numerous nature camps and trekking activities organised for youths to sensitise them to various conservation activities. The National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers in various schools and campuses were the majority who collaborated with him to steer their social campaigns for nature. It was his initiatives that led to the formation of campus and city research centres for planning and implementing various afforestation projects.
Members of Kerala Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti recalled that his relentless fight against river bank encroachments and water pollution had prompted government functionaries to come up with strong actions. They also remembered him as a true champion for nature who ignited thousands of people with his relentless conservation activities and social campaigns.
Expressing grief over the death of the veteran environmentalist, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran and Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas said his departure was an irrecoverable loss to society and those who relentlessly fought for the cause of nature. They also recalled that his presence in the city inspired many people to emerge as nature lovers.
The mortal remains of the departed activist were kept for the public to pay homage at the Town Hall in the afternoon. Environmental activists from across the State paid their last respects to him. Prof. Shobheendran is survived by wife M.C. Padmaja and children Bodhi Krishna and Dhyan Dev.
