If for Jitan Ram Manjhi, litchis at 1 Anne Marg have become a forbidden fruit with his family still living on the premises of the Chief Minister’s official residence not allowed to pluck them, even the President and the Prime Minister will not get to sample the luscious fruit from the State this season. The intense heat and hailstorm have damaged the crop.
Last year, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sent baskets of Shahi litchis to the President, the Prime Minister and other dignitaries in Delhi as a gift from Bihar.
“Because of the intense heat, litchis have been damaged this season. So the State authorities have decided not to gift the fruit to the dignitaries in Delhi this year,” said B.P. Singh, a district-level official of Muzaffarpur. The district accounts for over 62 per cent of the country’s litchi yield.
“I visited several orchards in Muzaffarpur and other areas looking for quality litchi, but could not find them,” Sudhir Kumar, District Agriculture Officer, says. The fruit even seems to have shrunk in size, he adds.
S.K. Purve, Principal Scientist of the National Research Centre on Litchi in Muzaffarpur, says the heat has damaged the fruit skin, making it vulnerable to insects and bugs.Two days ago, Mr. Manjhi accused Mr. Kumar, his successor as Chief Minister, for deputing policemen to prevent him from having litchi, mango and other fruits from the sprawling garden.
