“We are emotionally attached to this forest and for the past 25 years we are protecting this forest like our own farm.” According to Mr. Raju, almost 750 litres of water originate from a hectare of Shola every second and if the 10,000 hectares of eucalyptus plants and 15,000 hectares of acacia trees are removed from the reserve forest and native species are grown instead, Tamil Nadu might get up to 40,000 TMC of water and the Nilgiris has the potential to become the real overhead tank of South India. K.J. Raju, a mathematics teacher who is the secretary of the Longwood Shola Watchdog Committee (LSWC).