Stalwart of Chandigarh’s greening passes away

CHANDIGARH: Hardial Singh Johl, a stalwart among landscape designers who virtually knew each nook where a rare tree was planted since the City Beautiful’s inception, passed away on Sunday morning at his Kishangarh orchard-cum-farmhouse following a prolonged illness aggravated by Covid complications.
Johl (92) started his career as landscape designer at the famous Pinjore Mughal Gardens after obtaining a Master’s degree from the PAU, Ludhiana, in 1955. He then worked for two decades as head of Chandigarh’s landscaping wing under the legendary Dr M S Randhawa.
Johl also managed the greens and groves of Chandigarh Golf Club in the 1960s and 1970s when the iconic ‘nursery of Indian golf ’ was in its nascent stages. The nursery also groomed his sons, architect Ajai Johl and Amandeep Johl, who were golfing contemporaries of Indian legend Jeev Milkha Singh and they won laurels on the national amateur and international professional circuits respectively.
“We came to Chandigarh when it was a bare landscape riven by sandstorms. My late husband worked his heart out to green it with rare and diverse flora from different regions of India and countries of the globe. The Rose Garden was a product of his expertise and design. From the sands and piercing dust, emerged the roses and flowering trees of Chandigarh because of the work done in those decades,” a bereaved Gurbrinder K Johl told TOI.
Johl went on to head the Punjab government’s Landscape Circle and was appointed advisor to PUDA. His master projects included Punjabi University campus, Patiala, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, and the historical city of Anandpur Sahib.
Apart from contributing articles to prominent newspapers, Johl distilled his knowledge in two authoritative volumes cowritten with the renowned Chandigarh-based architect, Sarbjit Singh Bahga, and titled, ‘Trees in Urban Habitat’, and ‘Landscaping Human Habitat’. The first volume represents a study of tree plantations of Lutyen's Delhi and Corbusier's Chandigarh.
Kaim silent witness to city’s greening
His intimate knowledge of arid Chandigarh's greening was such that he could recall where precisely a very rare tree such as the Kaim (Mitragyna parvifolia) could be found: along the slip road branching from Madhya Marg to GMSH, Sector 16, and bang in the centre of the CGC's 7th hole fairway, which is reckoned as one of the toughest par-5 holes in India. The Kaim planted by Johl is one of the principal factors that make the 7th hole so daunting a challenge for the best of golfers.
The Kaim is a silent witness to Chandigarh's iconic greening and landscaping history and it will in that spirit mourn its mentor, who passed gently into the night.