BENGALURU: Forest, Environment, and Ecology Minister Eshwar Khandre on Saturday directed forest department and Karnataka Biodiversity Board officials to maintain the Nallur tamarind grove in Devanahalli, around 6 km from the Kempegowda International Airport, route to Hoskotte. He said the space should be cleaned and turned into a tourist destination.
He issued the directions while chairing the 54th Biodiversity Board meeting in the city. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Brijesh Kumar Dikshit told The New Sunday Express that the 25-acre landscape and the trees are the first in India to be declared a Biodiversity Hotspot. There are also Durga and Krishna temples in the area but are poorly maintained. The temples should also be listed and protected by the Archaeology Department, he added.
The meeting decided that the area would be fenced and a walking space around the trees created. A timeline of March 2024 has been set to complete all the works, Dikshit said.
The officials told Khandre that around 400 trees in the area are said to be around 1,000-1,200 years old. It comes under the Ecology Department and has been poorly maintained. The area is infested with weeds and a mud fort around the trees is now ruined.
Legend has it that there was once a Nayaka king. He had a beautiful daughter, who had fallen in love with a man from another community. Fearing that his daughter would reveal the secret passage to the kingdom and all the wealth would be stolen away, he filled them in pots and buried them. To mark the pots, he planted tamarind saplings, which stand as trees now.
At the meeting, Khandre also set a 60-day deadline for companies manufacturing products using herbs and various biodiversity resources to register with the Board. He directed officials to give away Biodiversity Board awards and to double the prize money from Rs 25,000.