Late Santwana Lahiri
Smt. Santwana Lahiri was the wife of Mr. Kanak Lal Lahiri and the founder Managing Trustee. Being the daughter of a forest officer and wife of a forest officer, she had a strong association with issues related to forestry. With her indefatigable spirit and never-ending energy she was an inspiration to all who worked with her. She did her B. A. in English literature. She was a student of Gokhale Memorial Girls School, Kolkata – a debt she never forgot. She served on the school/college Governing Board till her last days and generously remembered the school in her will. She had a tremendous nationalistic attitude and always felt one should always be indebted to the society for the contribution it plays in one’s upbringing and should try to pay it back as much as possible. She was always associated with different programs associated with the betterment of society. Sri K. L. Lahiri and Sm Lahiri complemented and completed each other in their life. After the sudden expiry of Mr K. L. Lahiri in 2001, inspite of her serious heath-condition, she took the initiative to fulfill Sri Lahiri’s dream-project – the Trust. Unfortunately, she could not survive long to initiate and watch the activities of the Trust and expired on December 22, 2010.
Dr. Ajit Kr. Banerjee
Dr. AJit K. Banerjee was a renowned silviculturist whose “Arabari Model” led to the initiation of Joint Forest Management in West Bengal and other parts of India. He resigned from the forest service in 1976 to serve as a senior professional of Titagarh paper Mills and also as the Managing Director of the West Bengal Pulpwood Development Corporation. He served as a Senior Forestry Specialist at the World Bank during 1984-95. After the retirement he worked in China as a consultant on participatory forestry for KfW, the German Development Bank. He was a trustee and chairperson of WWF-India (Eastern Zone) and was a member of the State Biodiversity Board, Government of West Bengal.
He was a close associat of Mr. K. L. Lahiri in professional as well as in personal sphere. He was also instrumental in formation of the Trust. He passed away on 29.11.2014.
Dr. Saswati Lahiri
Saswati Lahiri is the niece of Kanak Lal Lahiri and is one of the founder trustees.
She did her post graduation in Organic Chemistry from Jadavpur University and doctoral work from IIT/Kanpur. She spent two years in one of the Max-Planck Institutes in Germany for her research work, She was a senior Professor at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata till retirement in 2011. She also taught as visiting Professor in Vidyasagar University and the then BESU.
Presently sheworks as visiting teacher at different educational institutes. She is a nature-lover and has travelled
widely.
Sri Sachikanta Chakrabarti
Mr. Sachikanta Chakrabarti Joined the trust in July, 2009. He is a retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who had played an innovative and ingenious role in redefining ecotourism and captive and in situ management of wildlife in the wilderness in Karnataka. He is a Post Graduate in Geology from the University of Calcutta and served as an Indian Forest Service officer the Governments of Karnataka and India under various capacities. During his period of heading the Forest Department in Wildlife, wildlife management in Karnataka got an impetus through many externally funded projects besides the State and Central projects like Project Tiger and Project Elephant. He was trained in Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford, U.K., before becoming Chief Conservator of Forests, Social Forestry becoming the motivating force for the Japan Bank (JBIC) funded Social Forestry Project in Karnataka. Post retirement in 2003, he worked as Director, Tourism in a private Shipping Company of Calcutta and played a lead role in planning, designing and developing the first ever riverine tourism in India through an indigenous internationally acclaimed ship operating from Calcutta. He also worked as Adviser, Eco Tourism in a leading Eco tourism resort chain with headquarters in Bangalore and later prepared ecotourism projects for Andamans and Tripura on behalf of the PSU, Jungle Lodges and Resorts, Bangalore. Presently, he is the Chief Editor of an Environment related magazine and associated with an Ecotourism Organisation based in Kolkata.
Sunanda Basu
Born on 22nd November, 1938 in North Calcutta. She studied in Saint Margarets’ school, Loreto House College and obtained the Honours graduate and post Graduate Degree in Mental and Moral Philosophy from Presidency College, Calcutta. Between 1965 to 1968, she learned German Language from Goethe Institute (Max Muller Bhavan), Poona, and started teaching German Language in April, 1968 in Poona. The teaching career continued in Calcutta upto December, 2005. From June, 1970 till July, 1972 she attended an intensive teachers’ training course in Munich, Germany. From 2006 onwards she is teaching German through private lessons and teaching several groups of German Students from different German Universities. She is also translating German literature in Bengali. She has always been involved in environmental issues, preservation of plants, tree, forests, animals and water bodies.
Presently, she is teaching German at the Presidency University as a guest lecturer.
She joined the Trust in July, 2009.
Dr. Pranabesh Sanyal
Dr. Pranabes Sanyal was initially a geologist performing researches on Himalayan Geology. He became a member of Indian Forest Service and started as the Director of Sunderban Biosphere Reserve, Field director of Sunderban and Buxa Tiger reserves. Dr. Sanyal was the chief Environment Officer of West Bengal for a long tenure. He obtained his second M. Sc. Degree from U. K. in Coastal Management and became a member of National Coastal Zone Management Authority for 15 years. He received his Ph. D. degree on Sunderban Ecology.
Dr. Sanyal represented India in many occasions. Currently, he is a visiting faculty in School of Oceanographic Studies of Jadavpur University.
He formally joined the Trust on 31.01.2017.
