while being passionate about the institute garden as her first home latha recalls that she was part of a dedicated team of the first batch of 30 scientists at the institute who had taken efforts to identify and collect the plant species from forests which were on the verge of extinction and then the efforts at its conservation jntbgri is one major gene bank for south asias genetic resources with 3500 plant species while the state offers only an annual grant of rs 25 crore for the institute our effort is to ensure the species conservation by studying the biological and ecological requirement produce seedlings for restoration and reintroduction of the same he said after serving for over three decades at jntbgri in various positions as scientist and director dr pg latha told toi that it was the visionary efforts of its founder director prof a abraham that set the foundation for the institute in conservation and preservation of plant resources for future generations for instance in the biodiversity hotspot of western ghats shendurney wild life sanctuary signifies the abundance of the plant tree shendurney or gluta travancorica an endemic species of agasthyamalai it will be possible by restoring the endangered species which are on the verge of extinction as director incharge dr pandurangan told toi that his priority will be on strengthening the institute by upholding its vision of biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilisation of plant genetic resources of the country outgoing director latha had joined jntbgri as a research scholar in 1982 then became a scientist and took over as its director in 2011 thiruvananthapuram on the central takeover of jntbgri pandurangan said it is left to the state government to decide gene bank covers four types of gene banks which include actual gene bank of protecting plants in an area seed bank to conserve the seeds of plant species in a minimum area cryobank to preserve plant embryo through tissue culture and invitro bank to conserve the plant in a glass bottle in controlled conditions of temperature the wood of this tree is better than teak wood and to check its extinction we had studied its ecology and made all restoration efforts he said though the centre has approved inprinciple for the institute takeover he said the state will decide after weighing the options to see how far it would benefit the state and its plant conservation measures in kerala there are at least 150 species of restricted plants including herbs shrubs and large trees which are prone to extinction senior scientist dr ag pandurangan has taken charge as the directorincharge of the prestigious jawaharlal nehru tropical botanical garden research institute jntbgri at palode here on thursday following the superannuation of the institutes director dr pg latha on wednesday evening while scientists at the institute had told toi that through its central takeover jntbgri is already assured of rs 100 crore onetime grant for infrastructure in addition to an annual grant of rs 50 crore effort