7 Years on, Botanical Garden Eludes Yelagiri

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 25th May 2015

VELLORE: Seven years ago, Tamil Nadu’s largest botanical garden, that was envisaged by officials and elected representatives, as a `20 crore project spread over 85 acres in Pallakaniyur in Yelagiri Hills, continues to remain a twinkle in their eyes, due to several families living on the proposed site unwilling to give up the land they have been living on for decades unless they are given alternate parcels of land for carrying on their agricultural livelihood.

When the project was conceived and the land earmarked, officials held talks and assured the families that they would be  provided with alternative land. However, an apathy and a lack of interest on the part of the officials in seeing the project to fruition is quickly rendering the project a ‘non-starter’.

A villager said agriculture has been their livelihood for generations on that land.

“We are ready to relocate if the government provides us one acre of land at an alternative site for agriculture activities. But officials have not turned up for a long time now except for the initial response soon after our protest,” he said. “For the last two to three years, no official has approached us regarding provision of alternative land. We continue to live here and there is no sign of work being taken up to establish the garden,” said another villager.

Officials in the district administration said that `1 crore has been allocated for the construction of a compound wall around the proposed site for the botanical garden, which the villagers were aware of. “The government, in fact, has allocated around `1 crore to construct a compound wall. But even that work has not been taken up till date,” said a source in the district administration.

As many as seven Yelagiri Summer Festivals would have passed by the end of this month without the garden becoming anywhere close to reality. This year, the Summer Festival is being held on May 30 and 31.

The gardens were originally conceived to make Yelagiri Hills more attractive to tourists. For seven years now, elected representatives have promised the electorate that the garden will be a reality “by the next Summer Festival.”