Centuries-old ‘beris’ at Golden Temple laden with fruit
AMRITSAR: : The three centuries-old “beris” in the Golden Temple complex here have witnessed record fruiting this season, thanks to a team of experts from the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, which has been inspecting the trees annually to protect them from diseases and insects.
The team, including agriculture and horticulture experts, on Monday inspected the three beris (Jujube trees)- Dukh Bhanjni Beri, Ber Baba Budha Sahib and Lachi Ber- laden with fruits, and were delighted to see the results. Dukh Bhanjani Beri, on the bank of the holy sarovar on lngar hall side, has been here since the fourth Sikh guru Sri Guru Ram Das founded Amritsar city and the holy sarovar in 1570, and is over 400 years old.
“We have been doing sewa of taking care of these beris every season. We have noticed the record fruits borne by the trees this season,” said Prof. Sandeep Singh, one of the team members.
Prof. Jaswinder Singh, another team member, said, “a kind of insect attacks the branches of the beris in the month of April. So, in this month, there is dire need of treatment of the trees. We are here to cut the branches and spray the medicine prepared with neem in order to save them from the insects and diseases.
This yearly practice has yielded good results and improved fruiting.”
Due to various reasons, including lack of proper care, the fruitfulness of this trees was deteriorating and many branches had dried up. The SGPC sought help from different experts to ensure trees’ upkeep. In 2005, the gurdwara body had assigned ‘sewa’ (voluntarily service), of treating the ‘beris,’ to a team of experts of the PAU.