The rich aroma wafting from the rice pot would no longer be that of Dehradun’s Basmati.

Falling prey to large-scale urbanisation, the cultivation of the aromatic rice variety has moved out of the valley’s traditional zones of Majra and Niranjanpur.

The state government recently admitted in the Assembly that the famous Dehradun Basmati is now being grown elsewhere in Uttarakhand.

“The Basmati zone of Majra is no longer producing the Basmati variety of rice. Its cultivation is, however, being done in Sahaspur, Vikas Nagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Hardwar,” said state agriculture minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in the House.

Despite its small grain, the Doon Basmati enjoyed the enviable status of being the best Basmati in the world due to its aroma. So much so that the word ‘Basmati’ came to be associated with Doon itself. Even Basmati coming from Pakistan would feed on its fame by assuming the name of ‘Doon Basmati’.

First, extensive use of chemicals and fertilisers killed its aroma. Then, urbanisation wiped it off the face of the Doon valley.

The new Master Plan of Dehradun provides for urbanisation of almost 4,050 hectares of agricultural land in the district — much of which comprises the traditional Basmati producing zones.

A large number of residential colonies already exist in these areas, and about 2,200 hectares there have now been marked as urban territory.

Hybridisation is another culprit. High-yielding varieties like Basmati 1, Kasturi, Haryana 1 and Sugandh 1 and 2 have now replaced the original Basmati (Type 3, also known as tarawari) and are being passed off as the pure variety.

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