VISAKHAPATNAM: Here is some good news for nature lovers and environmentalists and the citizens of Visakhapatnam. Soon, Port City will play host to a one-of-its-kind Natural History Park and Museum (NHPM) proposed to be established in a public-private-partnership (PPP) mode under the aegis of the Union government.
The NHPM will feature a wide variety of flora and fauna, beside information on environment collected from different parts of the country. It will also display innovative models through visual and computer-aided techniques as well as a collection of rocks, minerals, plants, animals and fossils from different regions of the country.
Officials said that the NHPM would be an educational experience for both children and adults to acquaint themselves with the mysteries of Earth and its biodiversity. It will also showcase the diversity of nature in the Indian context.
The Andhra Pradesh government has already issued orders for the appointment of a committee headed by the special chief secretary of the Planning Department as its chairman and the principal secretary of the Forest Department, the director (planning) or joint secretary of the Planning Department and also a senior officer from the Natural History Society of India (NHSI) among its members.
The committee will oversee the process of the establishment of the NHPM in Visakhapatnam and the Forest Department has been appointed as the nodal department to initiate the process of acquiring land for the park at Visakhapatnam.
Though the modalities are yet to be finalised, officials said that it would be established on a sprawling campus of over 10 acres. “An autonomous trust will be established with the members of the NHSI, forest, planning and higher education departments, which will act as an executive body and for its management in the future,” a top official in the Forest Department said.
He also said that apart from creating awareness on environment, the NHPM would also promote awareness by organising field research, conservation, nature trails and camps, eco-restoration and biodiversity assessment, and natural history collection.