BHUBANESWAR: AT the entrance of Ekamra Van, located adjacent to the Lingaraj temple in Old Town, a large stone signage is surrounded by debris of tall trees that could not survive Fani. Inside, heaps of decaying leaves and broken branches dot every corner of Ekamra Van that was developed as a heritage medicinal garden in 2006 by the Forest department.
The cyclonic storm has stripped this garden of decade-old medicinal trees and horticulture plants. The garden that was earlier a dump yard, was designed by sculptors of Lalitgiri and Raghunathpur and inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in 2009.
Plants traditionally associated with Hindu deities, having spiritual and medicinal significance, were planted in the garden that had three hypothermal platforms devoted to Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesha.
These platforms have also suffered damage after trees fell on them.
Of the nearly 250 medicinal trees that were planted in Ekamra Van in 2006, 90 per cent of them have been either uprooted or severely damaged. In fact, the garden has lost all its tall trees including rare varieties of Champa (Plumeria), white and wild Cinnamon, sacred fig, Neem, mangoes, black berries, rose berry, Kochila, Kadamba trees. The garden’s highlight, a Rudraksh tree that was planted the same year, has been badly affected. Although the tree withstood the gusty wind, all its six branches have fallen and fruits damaged. There is not a single leaf left on the tree and it will take a long time to re-grow, said Biranchi
Narayan Sahoo, an employee of the garden.
What survived the cyclonic storm were small plants and shrubs like Tulsi, Pasarani, Aloevera, Awetachita and Brahmakumari besides lotus and lily ponds.
Apart from horticulture and medical plants, a large number of orchids that were grown on trees were damaged in the storm. The Ekamra Van nursery, where saplings of medicinal plants and herbs were grown, has been completely damaged. Wall of a rest house inside the garden collapsed when a tree uprooted and fell on it on May 3.
The garden authorities said it will take at least five years to revive the park. The debris inside the garden is being cleared by the Forest department and it will take some time for the entire Ekamra Van to be cleaned up due to shortage of manpower, said DFO and Ekamra Van in-charge Ashok Mishra.