Pollution telling on City8217;s mango grove

The officials argue the primary objective of planting these trees is not yield of fruit. Others argue that in case yield of fruit is not the purpose, then trees like peepal and Ashoka can be planted which require less fertilisers.

Raghubir Singh, executive engineer in the department of horticulture says they faced the problem of water shortage at the very beginning of plantation. quot; The orchard is only getting one fourth of its water requirementquot;, he says.

He denies any knowledge of a disease attack on the trees, but a visit to the spot presents a different picture, and a mango hopper attack is apparent. He further adds that the mango crop is failing due to excessive temperature variation. However, Satish Narula, PAU representative at Chandigarh discounts these reasons. He says,quot; There is no such thing as a crop failure in this region. It is only the lack of plant protection measures.quot; This view point is also attested by Baljeet Singh, the orchard owner at Kishan Garhstates that proper upkeep is the only answer. On the other hand Raghubir Singh says that the trees are sprayed thrice a year by their department.

Narula also rebuts the theory of the region not being suited for mangoes. He says this region is one of the best and auction of the orchard of 60 acres at about 2 lakhs is a sorry state of affairs.