Nursery farm suffers ₹2.5 crore loss in ethnic crisis
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 20 2023: Hill Resort & Nursery, a floriculture and horticulture farm located at Leimaram Waroiching has suffered a loss of over Rs 2.5 crore in the ongoing ethnic crisis, according to the owner RK Sobita Devi.

Sobita told The People's Chronicle that she started her nursery farm in 2006 in an area measuring around 2.5 hectares.

The most popular plants from her farm are Azaleas and Camellia, which are in high demand in the state and her farm is one of the major producers of these two flower plants in the state.

Once a vibrant garden full of diverse plants, the nursery farm is now filled with overgrown grasses with an eerie silence pervading the area which has been designated a red zone owing to its location in an area adjacent to Kuki settlement, thanks to the ongoing ethnic conflict.

Kuki militants have also either destroyed or looted the nursery plants, tools, equipment and infrastructure.

According to Sobita, she has lost several nursery and mature plants of different flowers and fruits such as Azaleas, Camellia, Rose, Lemon, Orange, Sweet Lemon, Citrus Latipes (Heiribob), Guava, Mango, Litchi, Compacta, Juniper, Golden Pine, London Pine, Pencil Pine, Areca Palm, Grapes, Apple, Sapodilla, Star Fruits (Heinoujom), Gooseberry (Heikru), Apple Berry, Custard Apple, China Rose, Cactus, Nageshwor, and Kamini Kusum among others.

Moreover, the Kuki miscreants and militants had also looted several GI pipes, water pumps, water pipes, grass cutters, sprayers, iron trolley, LPG cylinder, gas stove, chainsaw, angle grinder, wood planer, inverter, batteries, CCTV cameras and monitors, and iron rods.

She suffered a total loss of more than Rs 2.5 crore and she had filed a complaint with Nambol Police Station in this regard, she said.

Stating that she took up the venture as a way of ensuring self-employment and also to provide income opportunities to others, Sobita urged the government to extend assistance in reviving her farm and compensate the loss.

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