Neem trees are known to have antibacterial quality, which is why they are also used as pesticides. In Kolkata, in a worrying trend, these trees are dying in the past one month. First, the top leaves defoliated, then yellowed and wilted, finally leading towards decay.
This infection is some sort of fungal attack, say experts.
Himadri Shekhar Debnath, the Chairman of Bio Diversity Board, said, “This started from Tollygunge area. Our team has given medicine, so some of them have recovered. We have almost tracked what type of fungal infection this is. It might have happened due to various reasons – one of which is long spell of high temperature.”
This type of disease first was pointed out two years ago in Kolkata’s Tollygunge club. Treatment was given, then again for the last one month this has become regular a feature.
Experts say that this may be due to global climate change. The state government, as well as, Bio Diversity board is very concerned about this fungal attack because Neem is hugely used in the medicine sector and is of huge economic benefit, so this has to be seen with utmost importance.
Kolkata has around 2,000 Neem trees. Years ago Pune, Nagpur and Telangana also faced this disease.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment