Language: Bilingual in English and Sanskrit
From the preface:
"ln January 2000, when the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) completed fifty glorious years, my colleagues Dr. Mukund V. Deshpande and Dr. (Ms). Vandana Ghormade, brought out an exceptionally beautiful compilation titled Flora and Fauna of NCL. The NCL was established in 1950, in a campus occupying an area of 450 acres of land which was barren of all vegetation. In the intervening sixty years the NCL campus has become a verdant island of trees, birds, insects and animals. With increasing urbanization of the city of Pune, there is a progressive decrease of green cover. Amidst the burgeoning urban jungle the campus of NCL stands out as a green haven, veritably, the lungs of the city of Pune.
The NCL zealously guards its green heritage and continually ensures the upkeep of its flora and fauna. We have identified and typed all the plants in our campus. We have meticulously documented as many birds and butterflies that have been sighted in our campus as possible. lvluch of this has been due to the voluntary efforts of our colleagues.
The NCL harbours an incomparable natural habitat of rich biodiversity. Its sustenance and presentation is one of the important responsibilities of the NCL community. Our staff and families who live in this campus take legitimate pride in this environment and are the true custodians of this natural richness. The new campus of the lndian institute of Science Educational and Research (llSER) that will take shape on the western outskirts of the NCL is currently a barren land. We are taking necessary steps to ensure that this part of our campus too becomes verdant and will play host to a variety of natural species in the years to come.
l hope that you enioy the beauty of the rich natural heritage of our campus captured through pictures."