Described as Asia’s biggest park, the facility located at Bannerghatta Biological Park was ignored a year after its inauguration in 2006. But now, the Zoo Authority of Karnataka is all set to revive it by re-introducing butterflies.
If all goes well, the nation’s first Butterfly Park which lies in shambles may take wings again.
Described as Asia’s biggest park, the facility located at Bannerghatta Biological Park was ignored a year after its inauguration in 2006. But now, the Zoo Authority of Karnataka is all set to revive it by re-introducing butterflies.
M Nanjundaswamy, chairman of the authority, said a governing council meeting would be held in Mysore on Saturday to formulate plans to give the park a new lease of life.
To begin with, a special vehicle will be used by park staff to tour surrounding areas like Ramanagara and Chennapatna to catch butterflies and rear them in the park.
Saturday’s meeting will be attended by officials from all the eight zoos of Karnataka, along with the chairman and member secretary of the authority. They will discuss ways to improve the management of state zoos, prevent the spread of diseases among animals, review contracts and tenders and the upcoming budget.
Nanjundaswamy blamed staff shortage for the park’s failure. The authority plans to revive the park with an initial investment of Rs25 lakh to Rs30 lakh. Professionals with MSc and Phd background will be offered permanent jobs in the park. This process will gather speed by the end of March when holidays begin and schoolchildren come in droves to the park.
Besides staff crunch, another reason for the failure of the project was rampant urbanisation and lack of proper climatic conditions in the vicinity which impacted the butterflies.
Accepting that the upcoming night safari at BBP could also prove a menace to butterflies, he said the safari plan would materialise only in four years. Till then, further provisions could be made to improve the Butterfly Park.
The Karnataka high court had given direction to set up an expert committee to ensure that noise pollution and tourist flow do not adversely affect the biodiversity of the region, he said.
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