The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will plant around 50,000 indigenous tulips in Delhi during this winter. The NDMC said it plans to plant 5.5 lakh tulips in all, including 5.17 lakh bulbs imported from the Netherlands. While 3.25 lakh of the bulbs will be used by NDMC, 1.92 lakh will be used by the Delhi Development Authority. NDMC officials said the tulips will adorn various areas, including Shanti Path lawns and roundabouts, 11 Murti, Mandi House roundabout, old VP House roundabout and surrounding triangular plot, Lodhi Garden and Talkatora Garden. The initiative to grow tulips locally was launched in 2022. “The steps taken by the NDMC in 2022 for growing indigenous tulips have begun showing encouraging results,” said an official. According to officials, for this winter, of the 50,000 indigenous tulip bulbs, 29,000 have been developed at NDMC’s Tulip Growth-cum-Storage Chamber at Lodhi Garden, set up in 2022. The remaining will be sourced from the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT-CSIR) at Palampur. On Tuesday, L-G V K Saxena visited the tulip storage centre at Lodhi Garden and inspected the stored bulbs. In 2017–18, for the first time, NDMC had planted 17,000 tulips. While 1.3 lakh tulips were planted in 2022, it had planted 2 lakh in 2023 and 3.25 lakh in 2024. The exercise is now carried out every year by the civic body as part of the annual Delhi Tulip Festival.
