Protesters painted in animal colours at the Jaydev Vatika in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: Students from various colleges of the city gathered on Sunday morning at the Jaydev Vatika in Khandagiri.

The park has become a centre of discussion for environmentalists since the state government laid the foundation stone here to build a handicraft and handloom museum.

Opposition from locals and green activists notwithstanding, chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation for the State Handicrafts and Handloom Museum on September 14.

Local residents were upset because they fear that 10,000 rare plants would be destroyed if the museum came up on over 12 acres of land.

The youngsters, mostly students from B.K. College of Arts, painted trees and animals on their bodies and urged the state government to stop cutting trees for building a museum here.

“We used distemper on our body to illustrate pictorial messages to save the trees that would be cut here if a museum comes up,” said Kshitij, an art student.

There were a number of interesting paintings. Jitendra Behera resembled a tiger with the stripes on his body and Ritendra Mohanty had colourful trees and flowers.

The students held placards with slogans to prevent trees from being cut and rallied around Khandagiri. They also spoke to the passers-by and explained to them how important trees are for humanity and the planet.

A number of people, attracted by the colourful display of the youngsters, gathered around Khandagiri.

The protesters believe that the museum should have been built on a barren piece of land instead of a plot that would have to be cleared of thousands of trees.

“It would have been good if the museum was built on a barren piece of land. Thousands of trees will have to be cut to build the museum here,” said organiser of the event Dilip Srichandan. Srichandan is the president of NGO Prerana. The Jaydev Vatika is a spiritual park that has been developed by the Orissa Forest Development Corporation.