About one kilometer west of Chandranigahpur Chowk on the East-West Highway, there is a large nursery opposite the Division Forest Office. Where plants are found humming—74-year-old Hariprasad Acharya.

Her routine begins with plant care. Acharya, who has been engaged in this work for four decades, always has the urge to grow plants. Even in old age there has been no decline in the care of plants. Acharya, whose house is Chandrapur-4, reaches the nursery early in the morning, looks around - whether the animals have entered or not. There is also the danger of wild animals eating the plants. His house is near the

nursery. The nursery is full of greenery with growing plants of various species. They love plants like family members. 'I have spent my whole life in the nursery,' said Acharya, 'When I started this work, many people laughed and commented. But, I continued with my work.'

Now the trees and plants are like his friends. He says that if a plant starts to dry up, it hurts in the heart. He reaches the nursery before 5 am and takes care of the plants till 8 pm.

He said that 40 years have passed since he started working in the nursery of Chandranigahpur Division Forest Office. Now he has become the guardian of two and a half million plants. Now he is engaged in conservation of old 4/5 varieties of plants. 'If the plant does not grow, I feel worried. I love him like a family member," he said. I look with my eyes - who needs what. I am happy with this. I plan to spend the rest of my life here.'

This season, he said, there is a plan to produce 250,000 new seedlings of Masala, Sisau, Satisal, Tick, Jacaranda, Malaysian Sal, Khair, Rajvriksha, Bell, Arjun, Amla, Kalki, Cassia, Maggi and Acosia species in the nursery beds.

Acharya, who has also received training on growing, protecting and planting plants, says, 'One plant takes 4 months to grow. The forest office has been distributing the grown plants to the locals for free.'

In the nursery where he works, more than 200,000 plants are produced. Spread over an area of ​​1 bigha, the nursery is fenced all around.

Division Forest Chief Hemant Sah says, 'We are surprised to see Acharya's passion for plant production and conservation. There are few who love plants like this. It's not common to spend four decades in the same job.'

Sukumbasi Acharya, who does not have a single word in the name of the land, has been appointed by the forest office as a nursery nurse on a monthly basis. Since he is passionate about growing plants, most of the people call and come to get plants.

The duration of the contract is one year and he gets a salary of Rs 15,000 per month. He alone does all the work of preparing the planting site, weeding, planting, filling the soil, planting, growing and protecting.

He has 2 daughters and 1 son. Mrs. Radha Acharya ran a general canteen in the forest office till 5 years ago. However, she closed it when the income was not enough. Since then he has been plagued by diabetes, blood pressure and neurological problems. Now she is resting at home. Son Dinesh has run a tea-snack shop at West Lachka on the highway.

Acharya, who always enjoys plants, gets more worried at night. He sometimes visits the nursery with a flashlight at night because monkeys and deer eat the plants. "Plants grown with such pains are wasted if they are eaten by wild animals," he says. The species of plants that deer like, they suffer from time to time.

He worries even if the plants get diseased, although he says that no serious disease has occurred so far. The forest plans to distribute the plants produced in one season within two years.

Even those who come to buy plants are amazed by the perseverance of Acharya, who has been enjoying this for a long time. In recent times, the locals have taken most of the plants of the spice variety. They have planted those plants on private land.