131K tulips sent to Himachal Pradesh for indigenisation

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has harvested and dispatched over 131,000 tulip bulbs to Himachal Pradesh under its project aimed at the indegenisation of the flower bulbs imported from Holland every year, NDMC functionaries said on Tuesday.

Last winter, the civic body overseeing the Lutyens Delhi planted around 200,000 tulip bulbs of seven different colours, with nearly 80,000 bulbs planted in the Shantipath area alone.

NDMC member Kuljeet Singh Chahal said that out of the 2 lakh planted bulbs, around 131,000 were harvested by the horticulture department and dispatched to Himachal Pradesh under the indegenisation project. “The council is expected to get around 5,000 of these bulbs back in the next winter, and the number of such bulbs will progressively increase. The cost of the bulbs imported from the Netherlands is high and the project will help reduce the cost,” Chahal added.

The civic body has also developed a “tulip growth and storage chamber” facility at Lodhi Garden where the harvested tulip bulbs can be propagated in a controlled environment by altering relative humidity, temperature (2-20 degree Celsius), light and exposure to ethylene.

NDMC starts preparation for plantation of tulips in August by inviting open tenders, a senior official said on condition of anonymity. “Plantation of the bulbs is carried out in the second week of December and it takes 30-40 days for them to bloom. The flowers bloom fully in the month of February, which sometimes last till early-March. After the blooming cycle is complete, the plant is allowed to dry up for several weeks,” the official said.