NDMC school of gardening to train horticulturists

NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council on Wednesday unveiled its school of gardening which will provide training to horticulturists working for the civic body. The school spreads over five acres and is situated at Purana Quila Road opposite Patiala House. It was inaugurated by chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
"Delhi is a green city, but I hope that this initiative will help make it greener.Other than training gardeners, we will also focus on planting trees which are suited to Delhi's climate," Dikshit said. The institution will start with basic certificate courses and advanced courses are likely to follow later.
"NDMC maintains some of the most important parks and gardens and other urban green spaces including Lodi Garden, Nehru Park and Talkatora Garden; vistas like Shanti Path, colony parks and roundabouts. A high degree of skill and continuous effort is required to maintain this. A need for providing systematic and regular training to the manpower for increasing efficiency was therefore felt and we decided to open this school,'' said an NDMC official. We want our urban spaces to be the best in the world, he added.
The school will have sufficient infrastructure for training. The lecture rooms have a seating capacity of 50 people. Besides this, the school has a conference room, a workshop, office-cum-library, seed chambers, machinery stores, poly house, vermi compost unit, greenhouse and bonsai tables.
"The cost of construction of this school is approximately Rs 20 lakh. The school will create a pool of resource persons to offer guest lectures, presentations, field demonstrations and undertake visits to various gardens and nurseries," said an official. The school faculty will be drawn from agencies like Central Public Works Department, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Forest Research Institute and The Energy and Resources Institute.
"The school will initially run on a part-time basis. The method of training will include talks and lectures, practical demonstrations, short courses and workshops giving gardeners of all levels a platform of transferable skills and knowledge," NDMC said. The centre will also provide training to students in PG or UG courses in life sciences during their vacations.
The courses are designed on lawn management, arboriculture (cultivation, management and study of individual trees and shrubs) and urban tree management, general greenhouse management, plant propagation and nursery management, organic farming and composting, landscaping, tissue culture, cultivation of medicinal plants, management of public parks and others.