Every morning before work, Bholeshwar Palange steps into a parking lot — not to check his car, but to check on saplings.

Where most see concrete, he sees opportunity. In this small nursery tucked inside his housing society in Pune, hundreds of young plants grow in recycled containers — milk packets, oil cans, old jute sacks, discarded pots. Some are native species so rare, you’re unlikely to spot them even in city parks.

Over the last 25 years, Bholeshwar Palange, a 50-year-old Tata Motors employee, has turned every free moment — lunch breaks, holidays, weekends — into a mission for the planet. With the quiet support of his family and friends, he has planted over one lakh saplings and donated them to individuals, societies, corporates, and over 30 NGOs — completely free of cost.

How a teacher’s simple act inspired Bholeshwar

“We moved into this society in 2000, and it was a new building back then,” Palange recalls. “A neighbour of ours, who was a teacher, Pratiba Bhadsavale, was my inspiration. Every day, she used to take some time off in the morning to plant saplings. I followed suit, and today, I have my own nursery.”

His love for plants started in childhood, when seed germination was a hobby. As an adult, it became a way of life. Even in his office, he found unused land to plant trees. “When I got a break at work, I used to head to the place where I could plant a sapling, and I did so,” he smiles.

Today, the Tata Motors campus in Pune has over 100 trees,

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