The Valley of Flowers: Khirai, Panskura, West Bengal

Khirai is very well known for the valley of flowers of west Bengal. Khirai is a small village located near Panskura under the East Medinipur district of West Bengal. As much as the name is attractive, the beauty of the surroundings is more than your assumptions. Along the rivers Khirai and Kangsabati the magnificent varieties of flowers are cultivated which look like multi-colours carpet – a combination of orange, yellow and green and so on.  

Beautiful multi-colour folwers cultivation (Photo: Gour Dolui)

So many different flowers like Marigold, Pot marigold, Common marigold, Gladiolus, Chrysanthemum, and Cockscomb, etc are the important flowers that are cultivated in this region. Janabar is another place which has similar cultivation near this region. The fertile alluvial soil of both Khirai and Kangsabati River in the Panskura block helps to develop this flower cultivation. As far as you can see, only colourful flowers are covered along the sides of the rivers. Therefore, this region is called the “valley of flowers” and Khirai is well known for this beauty. Although flowers are cultivated all over the years, the winter season is very significant as this time very suitable for blooming a variety of flowers and consequently peoples are attracted to visit these places.

Variety of flowers cultivated in Janbar, Panskura (Photo: Gour Dolui)

Colourful flowers carpet (Photo: Gour Dolui)

Yellow chrysanthemum (Photo: Gour Dolui)

Flower cultivation is the most significant economic activity in this region for people’s livelihood. According to the farmers, these flowers are exported not only in West Bengal but also to all the major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Bangalore, etc of India. But most of the flowers are exported daily to the Kolkata megacity by railway transport. There are numbers of flowers market surrounding this area as the farmers’ sells their flowers everyday early morning.

Flower cultivation at Janabar (Photo: Gour Dolui)

A combination of various flowers (Photo: Gour Dolui)

A combination of various flowers (Photo: Gour Dolui)

To reach Khirai, get on in any local train from Howrah station to Kharagpur station and there are so many trains i.e. Howrah-Midnapore local, Howrah-Kharagpur local and Howrah-Balichack local. Khirai station is just after the Panskura station. In another way, some vehicles like TOTO can be hired to reach Khirai and Kansai riverside from Panskura station. To reach Janabar flower garden there is public transport like Bus; Tracker is available from Panskura station. However, there is no such arrangement to stay in Khirai but anybody can stay at Panskura town.

Deatination to Khirai from Howrah station (Image Credit: Krishanu Maity)