Unlike most of the bheries (shallow fish ponds) spread over the Minakhan block in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, the 12 bigha pond of Pintu Das in Chaital village is dotted with trees. Rows of trees form clusters at various places in the pond and occupy the raised earthen embankments, which become slippery after every spell of monsoon rainfall.
A group of experts visiting Chaital village on the eve of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, observed on July 26, were impressed by the flourishing trees. “In just three years, the tree has outgrown me,” K. Kathiresan, Honorary Professor at Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, an expert on mangroves, said pointing at a bain tree (Avicennia marina ).
