File picture of Gauhati University

May 16: The Botanical Research Centre of Gauhati University is facing acute shortage of funds.

The centre is functioning with a skeletal staff and inadequate water supply.

R. Singh, the centre’s superintendent said, “We have only one permanent gardener and two gatekeepers against the minimum requirement of five or six workers. We have lost some valuable saplings of teak to thieves because there are no night guards,” said Singh.

There are no boundary walls either that could have prevented the entry of thieves. The area is also not properly demarcated.

Among the plants that the centre boasts of are pitcher plant, dipteris wallichii, angiopteris evecta, aqularia malaccensis, agathes cycas, canarium Bengalensis, chandan, pine tree and rudraksh. The rare plants include clerodendrum glandulosum and andrographis paniculate.

The centre is spread over 80 bighas of land. It is also home to many endangered plants, which are cultivated here for conservation. The garden is also the habitat of many medicinal, oil-yielding, timber-yielding and other economically-beneficial plants. It has a microprocessor-controlled polyhouse, besides a net house, an orchidarium and a glass house.

Named the H.K. Baruah Regional Botanical Research Centre, it is located behind the department of botany in the university campus. After 40 years of its establishment the botanical research centre lacks even basic amenities.

Singh feels that the research centre also needs an office with adequate infrastructure.

He said due to non-availability of computers, it is difficult for him to catalogue the specimen and show the characteristics of the various types of plants to research scholars, students and visitors.

During the Ninth Plan period the department got Rs 2.47 lakh from the UGC for upgradation of the garden. In the Tenth Plan, it got proposals worth Rs 1.76 crore, of which only Rs 12.5 lakh was released.

In 1998, the government had earmarked Rs 15 lakh for the development of the research centre. However, neither the UGC nor the state government has showed any interest towards the upgradation of the garden.

The garden was established in 1961-62. In 1998, it was upgraded to a research centre. Singh said the centre is open to visitors.