3L tulip plants have been procured for DDA, NDMC under L-G’s instructions
New Delhi: The Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi, V K Saxena has instructed the procurement of 3 lakh tulip plants, informed sources from Raj Niwas on Tuesday.
Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will use almost one lakh tulip plants to decorate their parks this winter, while the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will have two lakhs.
The 2023 Winter Season will see double the number of tulips compared to 2022, when there were 1.5 lakh plants. Almost 500 buds have been planted in Raj Niwas itself, mentioned the sources.
According to them, tulips will be planted in 65 locations including Shanti Path, Talkatora Garden, Windsor Place, Connaught Place, Mandi House, Akbar Road, Chanakyapuri, Lodhi Garden and Nehru Park.
These will range in colours as well. Other winter flowers like Petunia, Salvia, Cineria, Antirrhinum, Poppy, Verbena, Dianthus, Hollyhock, Nasturtium, Coreopsis, Pansy, Lianum and others will be seen at 91 locations.
‘Saxena had asked agencies like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), DDA and NDMC, who own and operate nurseries of their own to try and achieve temperatures between 10-12 degree centigrade in their nurseries, so that tulip saplings and bulbs could be nurtured in Delhi itself. He had also asked for the possibility of sourcing and planting daffodils in the forthcoming season,’ said Raj Niwas sources.
Consequently, NDMC has initiated to establish a unit of foreign flowers at Lodhi Garden, New Delhi. Almost 54,000 tulip bulbs imported by them had been harvested this year. Out of these, 52,000 have been sent to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology in Palampur for more research. The rest of the 2,000 bulbs are planted in the two chambers of
Lodhi Gardens.
Initially, the L-G had instructed NDMC to source the tulips from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh or Himachal Pradesh, instead of foreign nations. He intended for it to boost indigenous suppliers, and curb procurement costs.
