This story is from December 3, 2020

KDA, forest department plan to convert Botanical Garden into bio-diversity park

KDA, forest department plan to convert Botanical Garden into bio-diversity park
Times News Network
Kanpur: Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) and the forest department have planned to convert the Botanical Garden into a bio-diversity park as per the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) .
Divisional commissioner Raj Shekhar along with the KDA vice-chairman Rakesh Singh, KDA secretary, district forest officer and the additional municipal commissioner inspected site of the Ganga bio-diversity park here on Wednesday .

He said that NGT had suggested setting up a bio-diversity park on the bank of Ganga to conserve the biodiversity of the river and to create awareness among the people regarding its conservation.
The Government of India and the UP government, under the National Ganga Mission on ‘Clean Ganga’, had launched several projects to keep the river clean and pollution free.
The commissioner stated that in 2014, the KDA had started work on the Botanical Garden project worth Rs 130 crore in which the KDA invested around Rs 13 crore, but the project had to be stopped due to some legal hurdles and orders passed by the high court and the National Green Tribunal.

The layout plan of the Botanical Garden, prepared by a Delhi based architect, was approved by the KDA in July 2014. As per its blueprint, the garden was a part of the beautification program of the Ganga barrage having a cinema house for college students, an artificial lake and a water museum. A well equipped platform had also been planned for organizing cultural programs. A shopping- cum- kid museum block along with a food court, entertainment zone and two banquet halls were also planned. But all this had to be stopped when some nature lovers moved the high court and the NGT and requested them to stop cutting of trees and changing the environment of the area.
After visiting the park, the commissioner said that the bio-diversity park to be constructed on an area of 50 acre would display all bio-diversity of the Ganga belt starting from its origin. The park, he said, would have an activity centre, watch towers, food courts, toilets, Ganga museum, green building etc.
He said KDA after taking approval of the plan from the National Green Tribunal would later get it passed at its board meeting. The work would be completed within three years time, he added.
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