If everything goes as planned, the city will get one more lung space soon.
The Department of Forest in association with the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) has finalised a plan to set up a botanical garden on 160 acres in Navaloor. The HDMC has given its consent for the project and announced Rs. 50 lakh as its share in the budget for 2015-16 presented here on Friday.
Chief Conservator of Forests Mahesh Shirur told The Hindu that the garden would be developed in association with the HDMC and using contributions from the local area development funds of elected representatives. It would be a project to enhance the green cover in the city and it would not have concrete structures. The department had started fencing the area and digging trenches, he said.
Besides growing local varieties of saplings and medicinal plants, an arboratory and a trucking and cycling path too would be developed on the campus. It would be on the lines of the Sanjivini Park with some additional facilities. The proposed project would also help promote eco-tourism in the region. The Navaloor tank was an abode for rare bird species and that area should be preserved and conserved, Mr. Shirur added.
Welcoming the project, wildlife photographer Ashok Mansur said it was one of its kind.
“Many housing layouts are coming up in the area over the years. The garden may help the citizens have an ideal lung space in their vicinity,” Mr. Mansur added.
The municipal corporation has finalised a plan to set up a botanical garden on 160 acres in Navaloor
