A Rhododendron Park is Being Set Up in Mungpoo, West Bengal

At Mungpoo, known for its cinchona plantation and tryst with Rabindranath Tagore, a rhododendron park is being established.

The state government's fruit processing and horticulture department has approved a total of Rs 68 lakh for the project, which would be spread across five acres of land.

Under the horticulture department, the directorate of cinchona and other medicinal plants is working on the project.

Flowers appear on rhododendrons from February to April.

Our goal is to establish a park for rhododendrons underneath the plantation area. The plantation's director, Samuel Rai, told The Telegraph on Tuesday that the initiative will be taking place at the Rungbee division in Mungpoo.

The project's work began three years ago. In the region, one thousand seedlings have been planted so far. 500 have shown consistent development.

Within the following five years, the plants should reach full maturity, according to Rai.

The park area has already been fence off, and additional infrastructure, such as paths, has been installed. Perched on a hillside next to the 3rd Mile-Mungpoo road, the location offers a broad perspective of the Kanchenjunga mountain range.

The vista is breathtaking. From that vantage position, even the dawn is breathtaking," a resident said.

A lot of people think that the park would increase tourism in the area.

"Mungpoo's association with Rabindranath Tagore has resulted in a consistent influx of tourists." In this location, guest homes have also been developed by the state government. A resident said, "This park would be an added attraction."

The first time the Nobel laureate went to Mungpoo was in 1938, at the request of Manmohan Sen, the well-known writer Maitreyi Devi's husband. At the time, Sen served as the quinine factory's director.

While Tagore slept in the Suriel bungalow, the plantation's guest house, in 1938, he stayed at the Sen family's formal mansion on his last two visits to Mungpoo, in 1939 and 1940.

He wrote many poems while residing in the bungalow, among of which are "Janmadin," "Shanai," and "Nabojatok."

Sen's official home has been transformed into Rabindra Bhavan, a popular tourist destination.

There's also a bust of Thomas Anderson in the rhododendron park.

Back in1864, a Scottish botanist named Anderson took the lead in successfully cultivating cinchona, which led to the establishment of the plantation in Mungpoo, which is around 30 kilometers from Darjeeling.