First public health garden with over 270 medicinal plants opens in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: The first public health garden with the largest collection of medicinal plants across the Himalayan state was opened in Uttarakhand on Friday. The garden was inaugurated by Anoop Malik, Head of the Forest Force (HoFF) of the state.

According to official reports, the health garden has ten sections, dedicated to plants under themes including Immunity boosting plants, anti-pollution plants, and mosquito-repelling plants, among others.

Spread over nine acres, the park has around 270 medicinal plants consisting of various herbs, shrubs, trees, aquatic plants, and medicinal orchids. The garden has been funded by the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA).

Addressing the public, Sanjiv Chaturvedi, chief conservator of forests (CCF), (research wing) said the garden has the largest collection of medicinal plants in the state.

“This garden was developed in a period of two years under funding from JICA”, Chaturvedi said.

“Indiscriminate trade of plant resources, uncontrolled collection methods, habitat change, overexploitation, and climate change have led to the decline in numbers of these medicinal plants and hence this garden was established for conservation, creating awareness and linking these plants it with the livelihood of locals,” he added.

Sanjiv Chaturvedi also said that along with the garden, a small processing unit for preparing extracts from useful plant parts and a community training center have also been inaugurated.