Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 29 Sep: Vrikshabandhan organised a felicitation ceremony of the ‘Vriksabandhan campaign Dehradun’ on 27 September. The award ceremony was held at Old Officers’ Colony, Race Course. The theme of this year’s honours was “The Dignity of an Honour for Greenery”.
The awards were presented by Sushil Kumar, State Election Commissioner; Major General (Retd) KD Singh – Patron, Vrikshabandhan Campaign; Brigadier (Retd) KG Behl – former Deputy Surveyor General, India – Patron, Vrikshabandhan Campaign; Kalyan Singh Rawat, Founder of the Maiti Movement; Valmiki Prasad Singh, National President, All India Panchayat Parishad; “Sainik Shiromani” Manoj Dhyani – Founder-Conceptualiser, Vrikshabandhan Campaign.
The Bhishma Sankalp Honour 2026 was given to Swami Shivanand Maharaj, Matri Sadan Ashram, Kankhal, Haridwar. The ‘Drona Siddhi Honour 2026 went to Santosh, Kanya Gurukul Mahavidyalaya, Dehradun; ‘Dhruv Naad Honour’ to Engineer Shreyans Aswal – IITian, researcher and inventor, associated with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); ‘Lakshman Siddhi Honour to Vijay Jadadhari; Bobby Panwar, President, UBS Foundation – for tribal welfare. Civil Society of the Decade Award was received by the founder of Matri Sadan, Swami Shivanand Maharaj and other associates; and the Citizens for Green Doon (CFGD) for continuous regional protests to save the green areas of the Doon Valley, environmental awareness campaigns, fighting in courts through PILs, and representation in a completely non-violent, peaceful and disciplined manner. This award was received on behalf of the organisation by Jaya Singh and associates.
Special Honorary Award – “Vriksh Mitra 2026 – was given to Balwant Singh Negi, Mahavir Singh Rawat, Khenchen Konchok Rangdol Rinpoche, President, Doon Buddhist Committee, for outstanding work in the protection and enhancement of nature through the dissemination of compassion, wisdom and peace and through extensive tree plantation campaigns.
Also, Archana Negi – for faithfully leading the Agro Research and Seed Ball Campaign and Vrikshabandhan’s grassroots ‘Word of Mouth’ campaigns; Arunaditya Dhyani – for promoting a holistic approach to tree plantation and conservation among the youth of Uttarakhand.
The ceremony commenced with the lighting of the lamp and Saraswati Vandana by the Vedic students of Kanya Gurukul. “Sainik Shiromani” Manoj Dhyani, Founder and Conceptualiser, delivered the welcome and keynote address. He shed deep light on various dimensions of Vrikshabandhan and said that the Vrikshabandhan Campaign seeks to bring forward, through these events and awards, the inspirational stories and history of those working for environmental conservation and socio-cultural preservation.
During the program, songs were presented by a Kumaoni folk group in colourful traditional attire. The program was conducted by Archana Negi. Arunaditya, Secretary of the Vrikshabandhan Campaign, stated that all honours conferred by the Vrikshabandhan Campaign are registered and rights reserved. A large number of social workers Digambar Negi, National President of Sanatan Yuva Vahini Abhay Kumar, Rekha Negi, Uttara Pant, Dr Asha Lal, Murti Sajwan, Prakash Thapliyal, Rohit Dhyani, Sunil Agrawal, Anita Shastri, Yashasvi Shastri, Himanshu Mehta, Sunil Juyal, Tara Pandey, Revati Bisht, Jabar Singh Pawel and a large number of youth-students and ex-servicemen, etc., participated in the programme.
