The Director who Inspires to Nurture the Environment and Help increase the Bee population in Delhi.

The New Delhi Municipal Council has a separate Horticulture team lead by Mr. D. Chellaih. Having done his Post Graduation in Horticulture himself, he is the guiding force of NDMC. NDMC is doing a fantabulous job under the guidance of the Director, Horticulture, Mr Chelliah Sellamuthu who keeps working throughout to maintain and upkeep the planting of the annuals, perennials, and seasonals in the NDMC region of Delhi. The Director painstakingly takes the responsibility of the planting pattern, color schemes and designs in all the parks and roundabouts. But at present even with limited staff the NDMC is wonderfully maintaining NDMC region by replanting, monsoon caring, pruning and supporting the plants in 1500 acres.

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the municipal council of New Delhi, India and the area under its administration is referred to as the NDMC area. NDMC is governed by a council headed by a Chairperson. NDMC has different departments and Horticulture is one among them. The Union Territory of Delhi is divided into three statutory urban regions: the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), and the Delhi Cantonment Board.

The Director talking to the Editor ,Agriculture World says his responsibility at present is to bring back the bee population to the city. His present interest is to add variety of flowering plants and trees. Due to the lockdown he says he notices an  increase in population of Bees. He points out at the beautiful flowering plant called “The “Pride of India” called Lagestromia and shows us how beautifully they are rich with pink flowers and bees buzzing on them.He reiterates the importance of bees in transferring pollen to fertilization and fruitset. There are many other additions of flowering plants like Bougainvillea, Bauhinia, Erythrina at avenue of Lodi road central verge. Casacading view of Bougainvillea at Belgium Embassy area, Shanthipath, Miyawaki model forest with silver oak in a closer high density planting and Bambooseum clusters in Lodi Garden are all enchanting.

In the Winter months just before lockdown NDMC has exported 55,000 bulbs of exotic flowering plants like Tulips, Hyacinth lily, Iris, Oriental lily, Asiatic lily and Calla lily from Holland. These bulbs were sown in Lodhi Garden, Nehru Park, Talktora Garden, Shanthi Path, Childrens Park Sanjay Jheel and 52 roundabouts in Delhi. There were other flowering plants like Chrysanthemum, Dianthus, Verbena, Sweet William, Petunia, Salvia and Phlox as well. There were also a bed of Sanddune wall flowers near to the AIIMS Flyover which even transported us to thoughts of a filmy location. Besides that there were other flowering plants like Chrysanthemum, Dianthus, Verbena, Sweet William and Phlox as well.

Under the Guidance of the esteemed Director the NDMC team performs successful Tree Surgeries and the Department claims to have covered more than 2000 trees under this treatment. The hollows in trees are observed and treated to further prevent getting eaten by termites, ants and fungus and they give strength to the trees during adverse climatic conditions. The hollow internal portion is treated with a mixture of spray solution of systemic fungicides and pesticides and after some days the hollow space is plugged with Styrofoam or Thermocol pieces with no space leaving 2 inch by 2 inch plastering depth. Chicken mesh is wrapped above it and plaster is done with POP and cement in 70:30 ratio. This allows new growth and it pushes the Styrofoam and Plaster outside. Unless otherwise noticed and treatment done immediately, we may lose trees says the Director.

The Less pollution these days is helping revive nature and a pollution free environment. Don’t we need to respect bees for they provide food to us and and remember with gratitude that the World Food Security is entirely depended on pollination aided through honey bees asks the Director before we take leave. The  lock down and its calmness  has enhanced the activity and population of bees in all our parks like Lodhi Garden, Nehru park, Talkatora Garden and avenues, colonies even PM House and 10 Janpath.