But till a few years back the word Digha was almost synonym to Dudhiya Malda grown in large part of north-western part of Patna not far from river Ganga. Now in the second decade of 21st century the region is known more for educational centre, marketing complexes and residential colonies than the delicious fruit.

The orchards are gone and are replaced by concrete jungle. Some of the houses have come up in the middle of the orchard. The number of farmers involved in selling the Dudhiya Malda mangoes has also gone down considerably.

Mangoes of Digha are fast becoming a rarity even for those living in the vicinity, not to speak of entire Patna or Bihar. Most of the mangoes available in the market in the name of Digha variety are in fact fruits from other parts of the state, especially Bhagalpur.

The word Dudhiya is Hindi for milky and Malda mango of Digha can be identified by this very distinction. Once the skin of the mango is scratched a milk-like liquid oozes out.

Till a couple of decades ago there used to be 10,000 trees of this variety of mango. Before that the number was even much more than that figure as there were several orchards off the Bailey Road too. Now their number stands at something around 600.

The construction boom in the last few years dealt a severe blow to the mango business as it is now easy to sell land and get rich overnight, rather than take care of the trees the whole year round and earn some money in the month of June and July. According to the local mango-growers the way in which land is being acquired one day not a single tree would be left in the entire Digha.

As selling land is more profitable than growing mangoes land has become very expensive now. At present one cottah of land sells something between Rs 14 lakh and 16 lakh.

Mango-growers are of the view that customers think the mangoes they get in the markets are from Digha but that is not the case. The few Dudhiya Malda mangoes grown here are purchased by the well off persons, who send them to their children studying abroad. Some also send the mangoes to other cities, as there is a demand for them all over the country.

Malda mangoes of other varities are selling at the rate of Rs 40 per kg but the rate of Dudhiya is Rs 60 or even more than that.

In the rampant construction boom this variety of mango is facing extinction with only a few left to regret.

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