Rare plants dying a slow death as nursery sealed

Authorities shut down shops in Sujan Singh Park for property misuse

For over a week now, plants at Kamal nursery in Sujan Singh Park area have not been getting proper attention and have started to wither away. All because the nursery along with some other commercial establishments in the area have been sealed for misusing residential properties for commercial purposes.


Root cause: The sealed Kamal Nursery at Sujan Singh Parku00a0Pic/
Rajeev Tyagi

The nursery owner however claims that the authorities haven't acted in a fair manner and their action might result in so many valuable plants dying out for the want of proper care.u00a0

"The nursery has been in operation since 1955 and this is our third generation working here. The land was particularly allotted for the same. Some time back a general advertisement was issued in one of the ewspapers and no notice was served to us. On Friday, the officials suddenly came and sealed the nursery. We were not even given time to shift the plants to a different location," said 66- year old Kamal Kishore Saini, its current owner.

"Some of the plants here are rare and imported and need everyday care. But a week has gone by and they have already started withering away. Other plants are also in a bad shape and will die soon. Plants worth Rs 50 lakh are there in the nursery. The government must act immediately," Saini added.u00a0

The New Delhi Municipal Council, on Friday, sealed around 65 shops in Sujan Singh Park on grounds of property misuse. These shops had been operating out of garages in the residential area.

The shopkeepers however claim that they had been functioning in the area before 1962 and that the sealing of these shops will deprive over 600 people of their livelihood. "As per the Masterplan-2021, no shop that has been functioning from before 1962 should be sealed. We have been running from pillar to post to get our shops open but till date we have got no respite," said Om Prakash Vasan, President of Sujan Singh market association.

Till the government takes some decision, politicians like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Amarinder Singh and Natwar Singh will have to look for some other nursery to get plants for their houses.