Old central jail campus in Assam's Guwahati turned into botanical garden

Its precincts once housed dreaded militants and hardcore criminals. The 36 bigha land in the heart of the Assam capital, where Guwahati Central Jail was situated till 2012, has been turned into a botanical garden with 85,000 plants of over 230 species of indigenous trees. 

The botanical garden, which also has 2.58 acres of water bodies, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday. A space of around 2.08 acres has been dedicated to medicinal plants in the new botanical garden.

“After the jail was shifted from here to Lokhra, it was initially decided that a shopping mall would be constructed on the vacant land. But after the BJP government came to power in 2016, a decision was reached that instead of a shopping mall, a public park and garden should be built on the land,” Sarma said.

Set up in the 1800s

Set up in 1881 at Fancy Bazar, Guwahati’s trade hub, the central jail housed many dreaded insurgents and hardcore criminals. It was, however, decided to shift the jail to Lokhra in the city’s outskirts as it became overcrowded.

The jail inmates were shifted to the new jail campus at Lokhra on the city’s outskirts in 2012 when the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government was in power. 

Sarma said the inauguration of the botanical garden would provide a lot of open spaces for the residents of Northeast India’s largest city, Guwahati.

“Though there is a dedicated walking zone, and play zone for children, among others, the primary aim has been to develop it into a botanical garden,” Sarma said adding guides would also be deployed so that the young people visiting the garden are introduced to the rich flora and heritage of the region.

More open spaces coming up

The chief minister said the state government is trying to create similar parks and botanical gardens keeping in mind the fact that open spaces in the city were shrinking.