From Butterfly to Japanese - gardens abound in Chandigarh (Environment Feature)

Chandigarh, one of India's most planned cities with wide open spaces and gardens, has a Japanese connection now. The latest entry to Chandigarh's long list of themed gardens and parks is the Japanese Garden.

The Japanese theme based park, spread in 13 acres, in Chandigarh's Sector 31 has a Pagoda structure, Buddha figures and water features. Its first phase has been completed and opened.

Though Chandigarh's founder-architect Le Corbusier and his team had, in the 1950s and 60s, envisioned Chandigarh to have its "lungs" in the form of green belts and gardens, the authorities in Chandigarh have continued to add more green belts and theme parks to the 114 square km union territory.

As of today, Chandigarh boasts of the Japanese Garden, Bougainvillea garden, Butterfly Park, Leisure Valley, Rose Garden, Shanti Kunj, Fragrance Garden, Hibiscus garden, Garden of Annuals, Terraced Garden, Floral garden, Bamboo garden, Garden of herbs and shrubs, Champa park, a sprawling Botanical garden, the 400-acre Rajindra Park and many more.

Nearly all of these gardens and parks are maintained by the city's municipal corporation. The gardens and parks are besides several green belts and other parks in Chandigarh various sectors.

"The municipal corporation is developing world class gardens and parks in the city. With the development of this (Japanese) park, Chandigarh now has five big gardens including Rock Garden, Rose Garden, Terraced Garden, Shivalik Garden and Japanese Garden," Chandigarh's mayor Harphool Chander Kalyan told IANS.

As per Corbusier's vision for the city, laid out in the Master Plan of Chandigarh as an analogous to a human body with clearly defined Head (Capitol Complex), Heart (City Centre), Lungs (Leisure Valley and gardens), Limbs (Cultural and educational institutions) and Circulatory system (Roads of seven categories).

In all, Chandigarh has nearly 1,500 parks, gardens and green belts. The green cover through trees, of the traditional and exotic varieties, is also ample for the city having a population of nearly 1.1 million people.

"Though some people say that it is the city of concrete, Chandigarh's gardens and parks are actually the oasis of all colors, especially green. These give such a refreshing look to the city," Jaspreet Kaur, a college student, told IANS.

The biggest green belt is the Leisure Valley, an eight-km long linear park which runs from the city's northern tip to its south-western end. It was retained by Corbusier from the eroded valley of a seasonal rivulet. The Leisure Valley has a dedicated section of 'Fitness Trail' and a flower garden.

Chandigarh's Rose Garden, spread in over 27 acres and home to thousands of varieties of roses, is one of the biggest of its kind in Asia. Tens of thousands of people throng the Rose Garden in late February annually for the 'Festival of Gardens', earlier popular as the Rose Festival.

The Garden of Fragrance in Sector 36 is home to traditional varieties of flowers like 'Raat ki Rani', Motia, varieties of Jasmine, Demask Rose, 'Mehndi', 'Champa', 'Haar Shingar' and others. Another unique area is the Butterfly Park, created recently, in Sector 26.

Though not having anything to do with greens or flowers, Chandigarh's most famous garden remains the 'Rock Garden', created by Nek Chand entirely from waste material.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)