Delhi-Dehradun Expressway green drive sees 40,000 trees planted by Peepal Baba

Environmentalist Swami Prem Parivartan, widely known as Peepal Baba, has planted 40,000 sheesham trees along the newly built Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, with plans to add another four lakh saplings across the corridor by February 2027.

The massive afforestation effort is designed to enhance ecological cover alongside one of northern India's premier infrastructure achievements, blending rapid transport development with sustainable environment management.

Highway development meets ecological balance

The 213-kilometre Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, constructed at a cost of over ⁹12,000 crore, is set to shorten travel time between Delhi and Dehradun from over six hours to around two and a half hours. To protect regional biodiversity, the project incorporates a 12-kilometre elevated wildlife corridor, dedicated animal passages, and specialized elephant underpasses.

Government green initiatives for the corridor are also underway. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed Parliament that 17,913 trees were felled or transplanted for the project, offset by compensatory afforestation across 157.2 hectares and plans for 50,600 avenue trees inside the highway's right of way.

Night-time planting campaigns along the highway

To avoid disrupting construction and daily traffic, Peepal Baba and his team of volunteers conduct their plantation work during the night. Speaking at the 11th Himalayan Echoes festival, he said the team starts digging near the roadside around 10:30 pm and completes planting by 4:00 am before daybreak.

The next major phase of his plantation campaign is scheduled for February 2027, aiming to bring another 400,000 saplings to the highway stretch.

Decades of tree planting

Peepal Baba began planting trees at age 10, carrying out his first recorded effort on 26 January 1977 at Pune Military Station. Over the decades, he established the Give Me Trees Trust, which works alongside schools, colleges, and local communities to plant and maintain native trees.

While nicknamed for his long-standing work with peepal trees, his trust plants multiple indigenous species, including neem, jamun, banyan, and sheesham. According to Give Me Trees Trust, the organisation has helped plant and nurture nearly 25 million trees across India.