Social Forestry Dept develops 4 herbal gardens

In a bid to create awareness on medicinal herbs and shrubs, four herbal gardens are being raised in Dakshina Kannada district by the Department of Social Forestry.

Four gardens have already been developed at Balkunja in Mangaluru taluk, Golithottu in Puttur, Bellare in Sullia and Government Junior College Nada in Belthangady.

Social Forestry Department Deputy Conservator of Forest J Srinivasmurthy said, herbal gardens will be developed at Ananthady in Bantwal and Markanja in Sullia soon. The department had taken up the work on herbal gardens under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) Scheme and had released Rs 1 lakh for each garden.

“As plants with medicinal properties were not available in the department’s nurseries, they were procured from Pilikula Nisargadhama. All the manual works like digging pit, planting among others were done under MGNREGS and cost for some works like providing benches, statues was incurred by the department under Social forestry scheme,’’ he said.

In Balkunja Ayush Hospital premises, the herbal garden spread over 2.5 acres of land had 42 species of medicinal plants. The garden also has a statue of Dhanvanthri and a walking track. In Nada, the herbal garden in two acres of land had about 20 species of herbal plants. In Golithottu and Bellare, gardens were planned on 60 cents of land.

Many herbs used for the preparation of medicines are available locally, but the public mostly remains ignorant about its presence or its value.

It was former chief executive of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat MR Ravi who mooted the idea of herbal gardens to create awareness on the rich herbal treasure among the public and children in particular.