ETV Bharat Impact: Odisha's 'Tree Man' Gets New Home After 40 Years Of Green Mission, Thanks To Hyderabad-Based Trust
After ETV Bharat's report, Gunthiram Jena, who has planted over one lakh trees in 40 years, received a new house from Raghu Arikapudi Seva Trust.
Published : October 13, 2025 at 8:46 AM IST
Jajpur: For Gunthiram Jena and his family, happiness knew no bounds when they stepped into a newly-built house, a place they can now call their own. Popular as 'tree man' in Odisha's Jajpur, Gunthiram has planted over one lakh trees in the last four decades, without any assistance either from the government or any NGO. When his story was reported on ETV Bharat, Raghu Arikapudi Seva Trust, a Hyderabad-based organisation, in collaboration with ETV Bharat, first provided four quintals of rice and essential supplies to Gunthiram's family and then went on to build a house for them, to salute his lifelong dedication towards environment.
A daily wager from Basudevpur Uansahi in Jajpur block, Gunthiram (60) earns a meagre income but still doesn't hesitate to spend more than half of it on planting trees. Ask him how he developed an interest, he says his "addiction" to greenery began when he was 20 years old, when he first heard about environmental conservation on the radio. He started planting saplings with whatever he earned.
Over the next 40 years, Gunthiram planted lakhs of trees of various species across his village and other panchayats including Shimilia, Markandpur, Jahangpur, Chhatishdevil and Maheshwarpur. His persistent efforts made him well-known locally as 'Tree Man', but that didn't alleviate his financial struggles.
Gunthiram lives with his wife and three daughters. The family barely managed daily meals and had no proper home. "My father earned around Rs 350 a day and spent much of it on trees. We struggled a lot to meet our education and other expenses. We lived in a tent and it was unbearable during summer and rainy season," said his elder daughter Mamata Jena.
Despite this hardship, Gunthiram never stopped planting trees. "No matter how many obstacles I faced, I haven't stopped. II began this work when I was 20. Now it has been 40 years that I am planting trees. I wanted to contribute to environment protection," he said.
After ETV Bharat highlighted his plight on April 14, social activist Biswajit Mohapatra helped connect Gunthiram with Raghu Arikapudi Seva Trust. "After watching the news, Raghu, the chairman of the trust, asked us to collect details about him. Within three days, the trust provided rice, ration and other essentials for a year, and then promised to build a house. Construction work started immediately and was completed within six months," Mohapatra said.
The trust provided materials worth over Rs five lakh for the new home. Last week, senior officials from the trust attened the house-warming ceremony and handed over the keys to Gunthiram's family.
An overjoyed Gunthiram expressed his happiness and gratitude and said, "After the news on ETV Bharat, the trust helped us with Rs 30,000 at first and then built us a house. We are very happy. We thank Raghu Arikapudi Seva Trust for fulfilling our dream."
His wife said, "We have gone through very tough times. My husband could not build us a house as we had no money. He used most of his money for planting trees. Now we have a roof over our heads, we are thankful to the trust."
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ETV Bharat Impact: Help Pours In For Odisha's 'Tree Man' After His Story Touches Right Chords
