Land designated for Botanical Garden in Chickballapur gets submerged in water

In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chikkaballapura district. 

In 2011, the Karnataka government announced that five botanical gardens will be developed on the lines of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bengaluru across the State. But according to the latest developments, there will only be four such gardens as the Horticulture Department is most likely to drop the project that was supposed to come up in Chickballapur district. 

The work on the garden, which was planned to be named after Sir. M. Visvesvaraya in Chickballapur, has hit a roadblock after the land which was allotted for the project was submerged in water. 

“We were given a land parcel of 70 acres for the development of the botanical garden near a lakebed by the district administration. But when the Hebbala – Nagavara (HN) Valley project filled up the lakes in the district, all 70 acres got submerged in water and hence, we had to stop the work. We had started the work and built a compound before it got submerged,” said M. Jagadeesh, Joint Director (Parks and Gardens), Horticulture Department. 

As it is unlikely for the Department to find a large parcel of land like that again in the district, the garden might not become a reality, the official said. 

Among the announced gardens is also the Dr. M.H. Mari Gowda Plant Conservation and Research Centre in Doddasagere in Tumakuru district, sprawling across 233 acres. This lung space is expected to be ready in the next seven to eight months.  

Similarly, work is also going on at the Terakanahalli Botanical Garden in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district which will be spread over 24 acres. “We will have many endangered species from the Western Ghats in this garden and we are expecting the work to be completed in one and a half to two years,” Mr. Jagadeesh said. 

Along with different plants from across the country and the world, the gardens will also be homes to many rare species of fruit and flowering plants. “We will also focus on conservation of natives species and inclusion of unique trees like the Adinsonia Digitata (which lives for around 5,000 years), Amherstia nobilis and Century Palm (in which flowering happens once in 100 years) in the botanical gardens,” Mr. Jagadeesh explained.