Kitchen Gardens in Police Stations

Police stations in Uttar Pradesh are planting kitchen gardens in their premises to provide healthy nutrition to its personnel. This unique drive has been launched by the IPS officer Aravind Chaturvedi.

The 2011-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IPS officer Mr. Aravind Chaturvedi is a people-friendly police officer who uses his soft tone and heartwarming gestures to make his place into people’s hearts. He is also an avid lover of nature and wildlife.

We have already read how he has saved thousands of turtles to date and is still continuing to do so, in his previous story – `Making Humans Live Better and Wildlife Safer’. This time, as he explained in an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he is promoting organic plantation in police stations across the Barabanki district.

‘MISSION POSHAN VATIKA’

Previously posted as Superintendent of Police in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Chaturvedi came up with the initiative called ‘Mission Poshan Vatika’ (Garden of Nutrition) under which he successfully planted numerous kitchen plants in the front yards of police stations. Doing so, he hit two birds with the same stone: utilizing the free space, otherwise filled with trash, and at the same time bringing organic and fresh nutrition on police personnel’s plates.

“The area in front of the police stations was usually covered with trash and dump, so I decided to get it cleared and instead utilize that area for something good,” said Mr. Chaturvedi.

Consultants were involved in the kitchen garden plantation

He acquired the idea from the Department of Secondary Education, which had launched a scheme wherein they were establishing ‘poshan vatikas’ in government schools across Uttar Pradesh with the involvement of students and faculties. The scheme was initiated by the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and is now being implemented in Anganwadis and senior schools.

“I planned the plantations in police stations in a way that the structure looks like rays coming out of the sun and each ‘ray’ is planted with different kinds of vegetables, mostly green. We have methi, palak, soya, ginger, coriander, pudina, etc.” Mr. Chaturvedi told Indian Masterminds.

The garden is in the formation of a sun’s rays

The vegetables from the kitchen garden are used in the police mess and in mid-day meals so that the kids and police personnel could get adequate nutrition from their own place. “On average, 35-40 people eat in the police mess every day, and through this not only will they get healthy food but the mess bill will also reduce by a certain percentage. Per diet cost of one person is about 30-40 rupees, which gets reduced to 20-30 Rs with our own vegetables. The entire garden is planted in an organic way by agriculture experts,” he explained.

GENERATING LIVELIHOOD

Currently posted as SP, Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Chaturvedi realized that about 200 families from a backward village called Pakri are massively involved in the illegal trading of turtles and have established contacts in Bangladesh, where they smuggle the reptiles.

Mr. Chaturvedi protecting turtles that were being smuggled

Mr. Chaturvedi organized a Choupal in the village and sensitized the people to engage in alternate livelihoods rather than harming wildlife. Within three weeks, he established women self-help groups to help them in earning livelihood through which they earned 15,000 quarterly.

“We collaborated with NGOs and involved some locals into rice mills and trained them into making paper envelopes and sweet boxes through which they have started earning now. These steps have really made the residents enthusiastic and the ones who were quite violent and rowdy till a few months back, have changed and are looking for work. We have also put 15 people into Nagar Nigam Palika where they will clean drainages and earn 309/- per day” Mr. Chaturvedi told Indian Masterminds.

The officer sensitizing people through choupals

ALWAYS A HELPING HAND

Even after becoming a successful officer, Mr. Chaturvedi has not let go of his humble and generous nature. He looks forward to helping anyone he can even if it’s from his own resources. When a disabled person on a walker reached out to him and expressed his will to work, Mr. Chaturvedi immediately transferred 15,000 rupees to him so he could open his own grocery store, which was shut down as he had met with an unfortunate accident. He also provided the man with and an additional 1000 rupees for the repairs needed in the shop.

He is always there to help anyone in need

“We invited the oldest women of the village to inaugurate his store. Little efforts on my behalf form a kind of trust in these people’s hearts and in return, they listen to what we have to say, rather than doing their own illegal work” stated Mr. Chaturvedi.