BENGALURU: On World Environment Day, Bengalureans may have something to cheer about. The city is all set to get more lung spaces soon with three tree parks almost ready to be open. Similar to Cubbon park and Lalbagh, these green zones are likely to be thrown open to the public after the lockdown.
Earlier this year, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had announced that three forest-turned-eco-parks will come up in Turahalli (400 acres) in the South, Kadugodi (102 acres) in the East and Machohalli (98 acres) by June. The government had started developing the parks, but the Covid crisis and the subsequent lockdowns threw a spanner in the works. Forest officials are now saying that the work will be taken up when the situation gets better.
Deputy Conservator of Forests (Bengaluru Urban) Ravishankar S S told The New Indian Express that they have developed the existing tree parks at Turahalli and 24.7 acres at Kadugodi. “Both these tree parks are ready to be open. The Machohalli tree park is 94 acres and is under development. Saplings were planted there two to three years ago. We took up the actual work just a few weeks back,” he said.
To provide infrastructure like drinking water, toilets, walking tracks and benches at these parks, the Forest Department has joined hands with a few corporate houses and NGOs. “The Kadugodi park has over 8,000 trees of 34 major species. The Turahalli forest has 10,000 trees and Machohalli, at present, has over 6,000 plants. We are also constructing insect houses in each of the tree parks,” Ravishankar said.
An interesting feature of the parks is that visitors can learn the details of trees by just scanning the QR code with their smartphones. The Forest Department has developed an in-house software with the support of the Environmental Management Policy and Research Institute (EMPRI) for this. “We have created QR codes for each species. Users can access every single detail of a species. This will be ideal for students. At present, we have completed this at Kadugodi, and it will be taken up for the remaining tree parks in the next few days,” Ravishankar said.