NDMC will purchase 200,000 tulip bulbs, the largest number ever | latest news delhi
New Delhi’s annual tulip blooms will cover a much larger area next winter, with the New Delhi Municipal Council planning to plant 200,000 tulip bulbs, up from 123,000 this winter and 40,000 last year, officials familiar with the matter said. He said the matter on Wednesday, adding that the bids are worthy $87 lakh was issued to purchase tulip bulbs from Holland.
According to an NDMC official, the civic body is gearing up for tulip plantation in August and September by inviting open tenders. “The horticulture department will procure 200,000 tulips and the work will be awarded to bidders who are eligible to submit bids,” NDMC member Kuljit Chahal said on Wednesday.
“The bulbs are planted in the second week of December and take 30-40 days to flower. The flowers fully bloom in February and remain for 25 to 40 days, sometimes continuing till mid-March,” said an NDMC official who declined to reveal his identity.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had earlier announced plans to turn Delhi into a ‘city of flowers’ by planting 500,000 bulbs in NDMC and MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) areas next year.
Every year since 2016, NDMC imports tulip bulbs from the Netherlands at a cost of $30-40 per unit and planted it in areas like Shanti Path, Talkatora Garden, Windsor Place, Central Park, Mandi House, Chanakyapuri, Lodhi Garden, Nehru Park, and AIIMS flyover. Shanti Path hosted the first G20 Tulip Festival from February 14 to 26 this year.
However, NDMC plans to stop importing tulips from the Netherlands and instead grow them in India itself. Earlier this year, it sent more than 52,000 tulip bulbs from last year’s collection to Himachal Pradesh in an attempt to replant them there.
“The early rise in temperatures this year has led to premature wilting. The flowers are picked after the stem dries. The bulbs were carefully picked after the ripening cycle in March, kept in cold storage, and transported to CSIR Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) In Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, where experiments are being conducted to localize and reuse the bulbs, “the following winter,” a second NDMC official said.
Later, experiments were conducted to replant these bulbs in a high-tech nursery in Lodhi Park, which has temperature and weather control facilities, but the survival rate was low, the official said. “The survival rate affects the cost-effectiveness of the reuse process,” the official added.
If tulip production is localized, the purchasing cost will be reduced by xxxxxxx.
