For 25 years, Umesh Lahkar lovingly fostered Rangajan Herbal Garden for the better good of the local community. Now, his beloved garden needs a little help.

◊ By Dr Anjali Pathak

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Rangajan Herbal Garden near Golaghat in Assam is geared to reinvent itself in 2020.

The garden is not just a herbal nursery—it has come to represent a place for education, art and inspiration for the local community. A landmark.

This 5-bigha chemical-free garden came up in the 1990s as a result of the untiring efforts of Umesh Lahkar and a few small farmers of Golaghat. A herbal nursery was developed, various herbal plants were planted and saplings were distributed to nearby villages in order to encourage the local farmers to grow herbs as well.

Today, the scenario at Rangajan is in stark contrast to the garden’s former glory days. Paucity of funds has, since the past 5 years, led to the garden becoming unkempt.

Besides growing and distributing herbal plants at Rangajan for nearly 25 years, Lahkar ran many social activities for the benefit of local villagers and their children, as well as, for animal welfare.

From 1991 to 2006, a charitable ayurvedic dispensary was organised once a week at Rangajan. A veterinary clinic for dogs and cattle was also organised twice a month for nearly 10 years.

For school children who could not enrol in kindergarten, Lahkar came up with the unique concept of an arts school. Village kids aged 6-7 years would come to the herbal garden twice a week and draw and sketch the plants and trees they saw growing around them.

They were provided with the paper and coloured pencils and an art teacher was invited to guide them. Later, several of these children were enrolled in local primary schools in the surrounding tea gardens.

Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi, a retired botanist was invited to give lectures to the local village youth on various herbs and their medicinal uses and economic prospects. This awakened the interest of the locals in herb farming.

But today, the scenario at Rangajan is in stark contrast to the garden’s former glory days. Paucity of funds has, since the past 5 years, led to the garden becoming unkempt.

With the garden overgrown into an unruly forest, the social activities aimed at children and youth have also come to a standstill. Lack of irrigation facilities has hampered the rejuvenation and expansion of the herbal nursery.

Lahkar and his associates tried desperately to approach both the Congress and the BJP governments in the past decade and even sent their petition with the help of the local district magistrate to the secretariat in Guwahati, but to no avail.

Observing the plight of Rangajan, some well-wishers have come forward to launch a crowdfunding campaign in August 2020 to raise funds for its rejuvenation. Rs 8 lac (USD 10,895) is sought in funding through the campaign. The same would be used for irrigation, fencing, planting, as well as, other operational costs required to resuscitate the garden.

Is this the end for Rangajan Herbal Garden?

We hope not!

To donate, please visit:

https://gocrowdera.com/in/other/rangajanherbalgarden/Nuriya-29089#essentials