MCD plans Delhi’s largest nursery at Roshanara Bagh

The civic body will add three sections ahead of the monsoon – for fruiting plants, creepers and climbers, and succulents

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has kicked off the second phase of its plan to expand Roshanara Bagh nursery over an 8.5-acre area and double its production capacity, said senior officials overseeing the project.

The civic body opened its first high-tech nursery in the historic Mughal-era garden in December 2022. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The civic body will add three sections ahead of the monsoon – for fruiting plants, creepers and climbers, and succulents.

“The second phase will focus on an open-air nursery section, with the largest area set aside for fruit-bearing trees, climbers to green flyovers and succulents,” said a senior MCD official.

The annual capacity of the Roshanara Bagh nursery is 150,000-200,000 saplings, which will be doubled under the second phase of development, said the official.

“Under the first phase, we added a polyhouse-based climate controlled nursery, the first such facility for the MCD, which is producing 30,000-40,000 saplings which cannot be grown in an open environment,” said the person. The structure of the nursery is made of polyhouse, allowing it to control parameters such as temperature and humidity.

The civic body opened its first high-tech nursery in the historic Mughal-era garden in December 2022.

“Earlier, the space was neglected and filled with construction waste. Around 3.5 acres has now already been developed with polyhouses, shaded nurseries, an open-air nursery, bamboo machan and seating space, along with a single-storey structure for gardening,” said the MCD official.

The nursery has climate control features to monitor light exposure, humidity, and temperature inside a polyhouse, and a boom irrigation system among other features.

“In subsequent phases it can be opened to educate the public in gardening techniques. The facility is being used to teach plant propagation techniques such as cutting, layering, grafting, budding, and tissue culture,” the official said.

A second official said that the annual greening drive this year will focus on a large proportion of fruiting trees like jamun, guava, mulberry, mangoes which will be cultivated in the new space.

“The creepers and climbers section will be used to cultivate the saplings of madhumaalti, Japanese honeysuckle and philodendron splendid, which will be used to green the spaces under and along flyovers instead of potted vertical gardens, which are much more resource intensive and harder to manage,” the official added.

The official also said the corporation this year plans to introduce fruit trees in municipal parks.

“There is a Jamun wala park located in Saket but it has no Jamun trees. We plan to selectively introduce these plant on such themes,” official added.

Spread over 57 acres, the 17th century Roshanara Bagh was a garden originally developed by the second daughter of emperor Shah Jahan and Begum Mumtaz Mahal. Over the last two years, the green belt has been at the centre of multiple revival projects.

The civic body has also moved a second proposal to introduce boating and a lakeside cafeteria in the recently revived four-acre waterbody in Roshanara gardens, senior municipal officials said on Wednesday.