The Delhi Development Authority has planted one lakh tulips for the first time in its parks across the national capital, an official statement said on Monday.
The flowers have been planted in areas like Rohini, Dwarka, ISBT Kashmere Gate, Karampura-Rohtak Road, Shalimar Bagh, Mehrauli, GK-I and Vasant Vihar, it said.
“In a first, Delhi outside NDMC is adorned with tulips this spring. The DDA has planted one lakh tulips in its different parks across the city, in addition to over four lakh tulips of different hues planted by NDMC in Lutyen’s Delhi,” the statement said.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who had promised to make the national capital a ‘city of flowers’, has been consistently stressing on beautification, restoration and aesthetic upgradation beyond the NDMC area, the statement said.
In a meeting of horticulture departments of various civic bodies on December 26 last year, he directed that tulips and other ornamental flowers be planted in other areas under the jurisdiction of MCD, DDA, etc., it stated.
At Baansera, which recently hosted the kite festival, DDA has planted 40,000 tulips, apart from 9,000 tulips each at Asita, Mehrauli Archaeological Park, and Swarn Jayanti Park in Rohini Sector-10, the statement said.
Apart from adorning the city with tulips, the LG has also stressed upon procuring the flower bulbs from local growers in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, instead of procuring it from abroad, it said. The move aims at cutting down the cost of tulips and would serve to encourage local farmers.
The NDMC has set up its first Tulip Propagation Chamber at Lodhi Garden, where the harvested tulip bulbs are preserved and grown for further plantation in the next season, under controlled weather conditions, the statement added.