page_title: Semmozhi Poonga
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Semmozhi Poonga / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the walkway in Semmozhi poonga, Chennai
context_page_description: Semmozhi Poonga is a botanical garden in Chennai set up jointly by the Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The garden was opened on 24 November 2010 by then chief Minister Dr.M. Karunanidhi and is the first botanical garden in the city. The garden is located in the Cathedral Road–Anna Salai junction, opposite the American Consulate, on the erstwhile Drive-in Woodlands Hotel. Encompassing an area of 20 acres, it was built at a cost of ₹ 80 million. More than 500 species of plants are being grown in the area, in addition to the 80 trees that was already in existence during the development of the park, some of them being more than 100 years old. The garden houses some of the popular exotic flora and rare plant species, medicinal and aromatic herbs. Many of the exotic plants are imported from countries like China and Thailand, including a plethora of bonsai varieties of ficus microcarpa and ficus ginseng.
context_section_description: The area in which the botanical garden stands today was formerly the location of the Woodlands Drive-In restaurant, the city's first drive-in restaurant, and the Agri-Horticultural Society. In April 1962, the Agri-Horticultural Society sub-leased the 18-acre land to hotelier K. Krishna Rau, who started the Woodlands Drive-in Hotel on 15 April 1962. It was an extension of the "Woodlands" brand, then popular in the city as the only "Indian hotel." In 1982, the annual Chennai Book Fair conducted by BAPASI was held in the hotel premises. Early in 1989, the Tamil Nadu Government had set in motion the closure of the restaurant. After almost two decades, the restaurant ended its operation on 12 April 2008, and through a High Court order after a prolonged legal battle, the land was handed over to the government, where it planned to set up the botanical garden, a research centre and a green house for developing rare species of medicinal and non-medicinal plants and flowers. On 13 November 2009, the Supreme Court gave its consent to the state government to set up the garden. The garden has been christened such to commemorate the Classical Tamil Conference, which was held earlier in 2010. The cost of the land was valued at more than ₹ 10,000 million at the time of opening. The government appointed a city-based firm of architects—Rajendra Associates—as consultant to design, supervise and manage the project.
caption: Walkway at the park
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