Considering that 49 of the parks receive the same water supply as the city's residents -- half an hour each in the morning and evening -- the achievement is especially commendable. Only the 118-year-old Sayaji Garden (Kamatibaug) is exempt from the one-hour rationed supply. The 80-acre park receives water for two hours everyday, though Parks and Gardens Director Mohanbhai Patel says it should be watered for at least five hours a day.

If the restrictions don't show, it is mainly because of Patel's efforts. Armed with a philosophy of ``If one works for 16 hours, the staff will work for six'', he is the man responsible for the upkeep of the lungs of the city. Only 11 of his 556 employees have degrees in the biological sciences, but the rest are trained malis, whose contribution to the city's green spots is considerable. In fact, farm labourers trained by the department are the ones who laid out the 100 acre-Ajwa-Vrindavan Garden, some 15 km away from the city, on the lines of the famous gardens of Mysore.

For all its 50 gardens -- the number reached the magic mark in the 50 th year of India's Independence -- the department has a budget of Rs 1.40 crores. Around 70 per cent of it is spent on staff salaries.

But typically, a section of politicians and civic officers believes that too much is spent on the upkeep of the parks and gardens. For them, Patel has only one answer: ``It is time for attitudes to change. The gardens are the lungs of the city. If health can be considered an essential service, so can trees and plants, for they help reduce pollution. It is essential that this department be given the importance it deserves.''

Happily, a majority of Vadodara's residents agree with Patel. A departmental survey reveals that more than 50 to 55 per cent of the citizenry use the gardens; an astounding 35,000 people visited the Ajwa-Vrindavan Garden, 15 km away from the city, on May 24.