Shrubs cover State’s second cactus park

JEYPORE:  The Cactus Park at Jeypore - second of its kind in the State - has turned into a safe haven for anti-socials. Blame it on lack of maintenance by the local civic body, the park is today covered with wild vegetation. There is not a single cactus plant in the park now.

Set up by Science and IT Department, the park was inaugurated at Christianpeta in July 2005 by then minister Rabi Narayan Nanda. It was developed by the Regional Plant Research Centre on behalf of the department and rare cactus saplings from different States and hilly areas of Koraput were transplanted in the park. The department had spent an amount of `5 lakh on the park and it drew a sizeable number of visitors. 

Things started deteriorating when the civic body disengaged caretakers after some years of opening of the park. Sans maintenance, the plants started drying up and today, the park does not have any cactus plant left. The structures erected to grow the plants under temperature regulation have collapsed. 
Locals have time and again demanded renovation of the park, but the civic body has remained silent on the demand.

Cactus crop to prevent erosion
Rayagada: Spineless cactus will be grown in villages of Rayagada district to bring barren lands under cultivation. The cactus cultivation programme will be undertaken under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana by State Government in collaboration with International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas(ICARDA).

Project Director of Odisha Watershed Development Mission, Sukant Kumar Mallick said the pilot project will be introduced in nine gram panchayats of three blocks of Kalyansinghpur, Kolnara and Rayagada. He added that spineless cactus can be used for fodder for livestock and poultry and has several other uses like preventing degradation of land, soil erosion and desertification of wastelands.The project will continue for five years and an amount of `92,000 will be spent for growing spineless cactus in one hectare of land.