Guinness Park in Ooty turns 18

Udhagamandalam: The Guinness Park, which was set up at Kuruthukuli village near Ooty 18 years ago in a record attempt, is a picture of neglect today.
However, at least 250 saplings of indigenous trees were planted in the park on Wednesday, when it turned 18. The drive was taken out by Sahu, managing director of Indcoserve, the largest tea cooperative federation in the country, along with the district administration.
She said, “Given the Covid-19 situation, a massive tree planting drive could not be carried out. Hence we started with planting 250 saplings of indigenous trees. We need to involve all the stakeholders to continue the drive. The Guinness title stands in the name of the district administration and the people of the Nilgiris.”
The drive saw the participation of district collector J Innocent Divya, superintendent of police V Sasi Mohan and district forest officer Gurusamy Badla, among others.
The park was the brainchild of Supriya Sahu, who was the Nilgiris collector in 2002. Motivated by her, a group of volunteers, comprising army men and special task force, among others, planted about 43,000 shola tree saplings across 50 acres of land in Kuruthukuli village in 24 hours. The drive started on June 23, 2002 and concluded the next day (June 24). The drive entered the Guinness World Records, beating the previous record of planting 35,083 trees in 24 hours that was set in May 1999 at Alberta, Canada.
Over the years, the park, with little maintenance, turned into a grazing place for cattle. In 2010, the forest department attempted to restore the park by planting around 10,000 new saplings. But that lone drive was not enough to save the park, which has been crying for attention in the past couple of years.