IMPHAL, Nov 13 (NNN): The Herbal Garden at Kangla Fort in the heart of Imphal has remained unexciting because further development of the garden has been brought to a standstill even as the amount of money released by Manipur Government as its share for the purpose has already been almost exhausted, an official of State Archaeology Department said Tuesday.
Kangla Fort Board took the initiative to develop the Herbal Garden with more emphasis on planting of medicinal plants back in 2009 following which the task was assigned to North-East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat in Assam.
Then, Manipur Government had deposited Rs 6.16 lakh as its share to NEIST for developing the garden in April 6, 2010. The total estimated cost of the garden is Rs 13.46 lakh, the State Archaeology Department official who did not want to be named further told Newmai News Network.
Rs 6.16 lakh out of the total Rs 13.46 lakh is the state share, while the remaining amount should be contributed by NEIST. The mission of the garden development was later entrusted with the Lamphel based sub-station of NEIST, Jorhat after the state Government released its amount of share.
After that, the NEIST sub-station at Lamphel in Imphal started development of the herbal garden from August 2010 and 131 different plants, including around 20 medicinal plant species were nurtured. The report on initial development of the garden was also duly submitted to the concerned department of the state Government.
Plants like heigru (Phyllanthus emblica Linn), kihori (Phyllanthus acidus Linn), agar (Aquilaria agallocha Lamp), neem (Azadirachta indica A Zuss), tera (Mobax malabathricum Linn), singairei (Nyctanthes arbotristis Linn and leihao (Michelia champaca Linn) were among the 131 plants.
Another 74 plant species were planning to cultivate in the garden, the report of the NEIST Imphal branch also mentioned. The garden measures a total area of 3.5 acre and this was allocated by the State Government in 2009, the official added.
The stipulated time for completion of the garden development work that has been taken since the year 2010 is around three years. However, only some portions of the total area have been discovered cultivating plants so far and the rest has remained unused till date.
In a spot inquiry conducted by Newmai News Network, the plants grown in the garden were found more or less surrounded by shaggy grass. Several electric poles, electric transformer and wires also seen fitted in the garden area.
At such, expectation has been lowered with regard to the full development of the Herbal Garden at the Kangla Palace, the official said.