___________

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

The Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and sahidnagar Socio-Cultural Society have planned a unique park for the differently-abled children of the city to be built up approximately at a cost of Rs 3 crore on PPP mode.

As per national coordinator of IAP Disability Chapter Dr Arabinda Mohanty, the park is planned over an area of 17,000 sqf near the ESI Hospital and will provide an entertaining and amusing centre to over 700 spastic children in the city.

The proposed park will be far ahead of the parks in Mysore and Bilaspur (Chhatisgarh) in many aspects including it being 100 per cent disabled-friendly with merry-go-round provisions for children in wheel chairs and modern gadgets for amusement , besides physiotherapists, supporting staff and a standby ambulance.

Dr Mohanty said though the park will be meant for the wheelchair-bound children, normal children would also be allowed but only after they are sensitised to related issues. “Entry of normal children will help in mainstreaming of the spastics and in increasing the understanding of the normal children about spasticity,” he said.

Update: Jairam Ramesh has written to the the French ambassador regarding getting a digital copy of Jardine de Lorixa. Following is an excerpt from a report in inewsone.com.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday asked for help from the French envoy in India to get a digitised copy of a manuscript on plants in Orissa written by a Frenchman in 1725.

‘I have been told that the oldest document based on a scientific survey of plants in Orissa was written in the year 1725 by a Frenchman called Nikolas L. Empereur,’ said the letter to French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont.

The document is currently available at the Natural History Museum in Paris.

‘I wonder whether we could get a digitized copy of this manuscript. Any expenses incurred in this regards will be borne by us,’ Ramesh said in the letter …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) proposes to develop a “bio-cultural park” on 10 acres here. It will be the first of its kind in the country.

… Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said flowers associated with all religions and traditions of the country would find a place in the park.

Mr. Ramesh said: “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has responded positively to make land available for the purpose. Within the next two-and-half years, you will have India’s first bio-cultural park. Cultural traditions are not Hindu tradition only. Cultural traditions such as tribal, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Islamic, and Christian would be followed while choosing species. The bio-cultural park will not just be a monument of flowers, but also will be reflective of our divergent cultural traditions.”

Thje MoEF would develop the park and then hand over it over to the State government. The idea was to draw strength from Indian culture for the cause of conservation of bio-resources. Traditionally, biological sources were being conserved in the form of sacred grooves, ‘nakshatravanams,’ ‘navagraha vatika,’ concept of panchvati and use of timber from ecologically important species for religious purposes.

… the park would be developed on the lines of ‘nakshatravanam …

Following is from http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/6592.

the Ministry would make efforts to get a digital copy of Jardin de Lorixa, considered to be the earliest scientific documentation of traditional/ indigenous knowledge about plants of Orissa, of which only one manuscript is available in Natural History Museum Paris (France).

Following are excerpts on the Jardin de Lorixa.

• From http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12120: "Jardin de Lorixa ("Flora of Orissa") authored by a certain L’Empereur, an outstanding work consisting of 725 double-folio paintings of 722 plant species"
• From http://www.circulatingknowledge.ugent.be/index.php?id=16&type=file: " *Jardin de Lorixa* a lesser known herbal commissioned by a French surgeon in Bengal in the early 18th century."
• From http://www.conservationandsociety.org: "a long forgotten herbal known as Le Jardin de Lorixa ( The garden of Orissa ) and credited to a surgeon named Nicolas L’Empereur in the employ of the French Compagnie des Indes"
•  The book "Relocating Modern Science Circulation and the Construction of Scientific Knowledge in South Asia and Europe : Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries" by Kapil Raj (Maître de conférences at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris) has one of its six sections dedicated to this. This section is titled: "I. SURGEONS, FAKIRS, MERCHANTS, AND CRAFTSMEN : MAKING L’EMPEREUR’S JARDIN IN EARLY MODERN South Asia" and has the following chapters.
  • 1. From a Forgotten Codex in a Paris Archive
  • 2. To Eastern India in the Seventeenth Century
  • 3. The Origins of the Jardin de Lorixa
  • 4. Making the Jardin de Lorixa
  • 5. The Jardin de Lorixa and the Hortus MaLibaricus
  • 6. L’Empereur’s Jardin Comes to Paris
  • 7. And Gets Anonymized in the Jardin du Roi

Following is from the cover of Jardine De Lorixa.

Update2: Following is from a Pioneer report about Medicinal Plant’s garden in Patrapada.

At the Patrapada Medicinal Plants’ Garden, presently consisting of 50 species of bamboo trees, another 100 species of bamboos from across the globe will be planted.

CM Naveen Patnaik planted a Budha Belly bamboo sapling at the garden on Tuesday. He advised the high authorities of the Forest Department to develop the garden so that it can attract even international visitors.

It may be mentioned here that the garden is constructed over a land of 150 acres.

Update: Following is about Jayadev Batika on the back side of Khandagiri.

Following descriptions and pictures are from http://www.bdabbsr.in/bdaservlets/more4.jsp.

INDIRA GANDHI PARK (The old parade ground in front of the Secretariat and assembly)

Indira Gandhi Park was developed over an area of 10.60 acres of land. It is centrally located infront of Orissa Secretariat and State Assembly. Indira Gandhi Park was previously the parade ground of Bhubaneswar city, and is the place where Late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi delivered her last public speech on 30th October, 1984. The park was dedicated to the public with a statue of Smt. Indira Gandhi designed and sculptured by Russian sculptor Mr. Dimitry Ryebachev and Alexander Ryebachev.

BIJU PATTNAIK PARK (Earlier called Forest Park)

Biju Pattnaik park is located in front of Capital Hospital , Unit – 6. Biju Pattnaik park has a lot of forest species, ornamental trees, flowering and foliage shrubs with a view to provide a forest in the centre of the city. A statue of one of the greatest leaders of Orissa and former Chief Minister Late Biju Pattnaik was unveiled in the park on 5th March, 2002 by Sri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Orissa and the then Union Minister Steel & Mines Sj. Ram Vilas Paswan on theauspicious occasion of Biju Pattnaik Jayanti. The park covers an area of 22.00 Ac. Of land. Multiple jogging track, colourful fountain, children play corners, rosarium, rockeries etc are the main attractions of the park.

MAHATMA GANDHI PARK (Just north of Swosti Plaza hotel)

Mahatma Gandhi park has been developed by Bhubaneswar Development Authority on a part of 27.00 Ac of Janta Maidan. The park has landscape lawn, rockeries, fountain & stream jogging track, lighting system etc. The statue of Mahatma Gandhi  sitting in the prayer position is very attractive and a number of visitors coming to Bhubaneswar pay their homage to the Father of the Nation.

BUDDHA JAYANTI PARK (Near Niladri vihar and Shailashree vihar)

Horticulture Wing in Bhubaneswar Development Authority has started functioning from April, 1987. The Wing has developed and maintaining 51 nos. of parks & open spaces in and around Bhubaneswar City , Khurda & Jatni. The major parks are:

• Indira Gandhi park
• Bijupattnaik park
• Dr. Shyamprasad Mukharjee park
• Jawaharlal Neheru park
• Jayaprakash Narayan park
• Mahatma Gandhi park
• Buddha Jayanti park
• Kharvela park
• Netaji Subash Bose park and
• Panchasakha parks at M.L.A Colony

      In addition to these there are colony parks like:

• N-1 park, Nayapalli
• N-2 park (Raju Bhaya park), Nayapalli,
• N-3 park, Nayapalli
• Pallashpalli park
• Kapilprasad park
• BJB Nagara parks
• Sahid Nagar parks
• Bhoinagar park and
• Baramunda H.B Colony park are also developed by BDA

      The parks provided with garden lighting system are open to public in the evening, they are:

• Dr. Shyamprasad Mukharjee park,
• Buddha Jayanti park
• Bijupattnaik park
• Panchasakha Park
• Indira Gandhi park
• N-1 park, Nayapalli
• N-2 park(Raju Bhaya park), Nayapalli
• N-3 park,Nayapalli
• Indradhanu Market park
• Netaji park and
• Mahatma Gandhi park

        All these parks are opened to public from 4.00 PM to 8.00 PM & 5.00 AM to 8.00 AM. These parks are provided with pathways, jogging track, benches etc. to facilitate morning & evening visitors, Bijupattnaik park, N-2 park, Nayapalli and Kudiary park at Jatni are also provided with children play equipiments. All these parks are beautifully created parks with landscape lawn, shrubbery, flower beds, trees, rosarium, hedges, water bodies, sprinkler system and two parks have Sulabha Souchalaya & public convenience. At Indira Gandhi park & Bijupattnaik park visitors can park their vehicle by paying usual parking fee.

        Horticulture Wing also give permission for commercial shooting at different parks @ Rs. 2000/- per day. BDA has also developed a large public meeting place at Janta Maidan in front of NALCO Head Office at Chandrasekharpur over an area of about 22.00 Ac. The ground rent for booking of Janta Maidan to hold any public meetings/ conference, exhibition is Rs. 15,000/- (Rupees fifteen thousand) only per day for the entire field. Organisations can also book Maidan big patch @ Rs10,000/- per day & small patch @ Rs. 5,000/- per day.

        BDA Horticulture Wing has also developed a nursery at Laxmisagar, Bhubaneswar where a number of seasonal plants, sapplings are propagated. The annual production capacity of nursery is about 50,000 sapplings of different trees, shrubs, forest species etc. Seasonal saplings are produced more than two lakhs per annunm. Sapplings are sold to the public at very reasonable price. During monsoon, sapplings are also provided to NGOs, Residential Welfare Associations, Municipalities, public and private institutions, Schools and Colleges etc. at free of cost with prior approval of authority.