Ooty: The hills celebrated the 150th anniversary of the formation of Nilgiris district on Monday. While the celebration was a low-key affair, Mr. S.P. Velumani, minister for Municipal Administration took part as chief guest and released a special postal cover on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, he said that Nilgiris is unique in many ways and the hilly terrain which is well combined with salubrious weather and greenery to make it a classic tourist destination.
While nature and wildlife are bountiful in Nilgiris, the presence of six primitive tribes add extra flavour to the hills. All the six primitive tribes, Todas, Kurumba, Irula, Paniya, Kattunayaka and Kota, have their unique culture and tradition, he pointed out.
He said that Nilgiris is considered as the water tank of Tamil Nadu and the oxygen bank of south India as its rich wealth of jungles and water sources not only help the hills to flourish, but also help neighboring places in the plains to benefit from them.
The soil wealth of the Nilgiris has made it a peerless land of horticulture. Horticulture has seen tremendous development over the decades and plays a vital role in farm-based economy. Now, due to the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides the health of the soil in Nilgiris is facing ecological threat.
So efforts will be made to promote organic farming in the hills for maintaining good soil health to support hill farming, Mr. Velumani added. Ms. J. Innocent Divya, Nilgiris collector, was among those who spoke on the historic occasion.
