Malkangiri: The state agriculture department had grown a fruit orchard at Chitrakonda in 1964 over 99 hectare of land having varieties of fruits such as mango, orange, lemon, guava, pine apple, jack fruit and rose apple.
The fruits of this farm were a major draw not only in the state but in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh while the orchard, painting a grim picture of administrative apathy, is now on the brink of extinction.
There was a time when tourists from Andhra Pradesh and Orissa used to throng the orchard to spend time and buy fruits at reasonable rates, locals said.
Several families who were dependant on the farm have now migrated to Andhra Pradesh to work in kilns, they added.
According to reports, the farm had over 6,000 orange trees while not a single tree is now at sight. Except for 1,200 lemon and 2,400 mango trees, not a single fruit tree has survived thanks to poor preservation. As the remaining trees were planted about 50 years back, there is a drastic fall in their fruit-bearing capacity.
The destruction of the farm began about 25 years back when it was handed over to horticulture department, alleged another local.
Speaking to some local residents revealed that the farm had earlier 25 government employees including officers to look after trees which has come down to just two – an overseer and an attendant – now.
The agriculture department had made arrangements to supply water from Sileru river though channels and motor pumps to nurse the trees which has become a thing of past.
Last year lemon worth `25,000 and mango worth `two lakh were sold, it was learnt. Earlier, trucks were lining up to collect fruits from the farm while hardly any truck is seen these days.
When contacted, horticulture department overseer Dhanapati Pujari said mango saplings are being prepared in the farm now. A target has been set to produce 55,000 mango saplings for the current year, he added.
Tourists have stopped coming here since 2011 while the boundary wall around the orchard was seen in a dilapidated state. While drinking water facilities are not available in the farm, a lone tube well produces water with iron content which is not suitable for human consumption.
Locals said they used to earn enough by working in the farm and they have become jobless after its destruction.
They demanded a probe as to how such a beautiful farm was reduced to an unproductive patch of land. If the government is not in a position to run the farm, it should rope in private agencies for the proper management of the orchard.
Chitrakonda MLA Dambaru Sisha said he would draw the attention of the horticulture department and the Chief Minister for revival of the farm.
PNN