Governor visits Rajamala

MUNNAR: It was a blue carpet welcome for Kerala Governor R. L. Bhatia who visited Rajamala at Eravikulam National Park on September 13.

Clusters of of white and purple kurinji flowers lined up to welcome him.

The Governor, who was in Munnar to inaugurate the Fourth World Congress on Mountain Ungulates, visited Rajamala to see the gregarious flowering of kurinji. The Park harbours kuriji plants in large numbers.

Earlier,  Mr. Bhatia was welcomed by a chieftain of the Muthava tribe whom the erstwhile Poonjar Raja (king) had appointed as the guardians of the forests. Later, Englishmen claimed their lands to plant tea and the Kannan Devan Hill Produce Company was born. As more and more of shola forests came under plantations, the habitat of kurinji shrunk.

DMR