Imphal, May 18: Never mind the sweet smell of peace dawning at Ukhrul district and smeared at the same time with natural phenomenon of water scarcity the district is today vibrant as several number of tourists are flocking to enjoy the rare sight of Shirui Lily in full bloom.

With May, the right month to witness the unrivalled Shirui Lily blossom at its best, over 4000 visitors from within the State and an equally impressive number of domestic tourists from the North Eastern States of Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya had climbed the Shirui Kashong (Shirui peak) for the most exquisite sight of Shirui Lily till date.

Since its official recognition and declaration as the State flower in 1989 a large number of tourists had been flocking at the hill range to inquire on the mystery and euphoria surrounding the rare flower variety which ironically was pushed to the verge of extinction.

While the visitors had been to a great extent responsible for near extinction of the State flower due to hideous plucking, carelessness and sheer sense of ignorance on intrinsic value of Lilium Maclinae (scientific name) lack of initiative of the State Govt had been a cause of concern for the last many decades.

The lack of scientific knowledge of the locals and attention by the State Government had been eliminated to a large extent with the taking over of the Shirui Lily protection initiative by an NGO called Munglei Vathei Hills Development Society recently.

Soon after the NGO began handling the Shirui Lily preservation/protection activities MLA D Shaiza chipped in with Lily farming through financial assistance that had led to gradual increase in the number of Shirui Lily growth vividly evident this year.

Interacting with the Sangai Express today morning chairman of the Mungleng Vathei Hills Development Society, Ukhrul Dr Ninghor Mungleng taking pride in preservation work of the State Flower inspite of Manipur Govt�s callousness fervently appealed to the visitors to refrain from plucking, tampering and uprooting the flower species.

On discovery of Shirui Lily, it may be recalled that King George VI had asked the one Captain Frank King Donward - a World War I veteran to locate lost air crafts during the WW-II at the Shirui mountain range.

The search, instead resulted in discovery of the Shirui Lily in 1948 with the interesting part of the search being one of the lost pilot turning out to be none other than King George VI�s son.

Captain Frank was conferred with the coveted Award of Merit carrying cash incentive of 50,000 pound from the Royal Horticulture Society, London in 1950 for the discovery of Shirui Lily.

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