MADURAI: The Dindigul district forest officer told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday that the Sirumalai Biodiversity Park has not been inaugurated as some additional work needs to be carried out to meet water supply, staff and parking requirements, among others.
In his counter affidavit on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by an advocate, R Manibharathi, over the delay in the inauguration of the park, the DFO said the scheme to establish the park was proposed to be implemented over three years, from 2019 to 2022. As part of this, various construction work, including a chain link fence around the park, office room and restrooms, cafeteria, drinking water and irrigation facilities and collection and assembling of different plant species were carried out in the park.
However, the park cannot be opened at this stage as the water sources available at present are insufficient to meet the water requirements of the park, he explained. To construct more water storage structures and other amenities, an additional Rs 1.33crore is required, for which a proposal was sent to the government in November 2024. Based on this, an administrative sanction for Rs 1.23crore and a financial sanction of Rs 50 lakh were issued on January 24, the DFO revealed. Using the sanctioned Rs 50 lakh, some of the works will be carried out on a priority basis before the end of the financial year in March, and the rest of the works will be completed after receipt of the remaining funds in the next financial year as early as possible, he assured.
Recording this, a bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy adjourned the case for two months, with a direction to the government counsel to inform of the progress of the works at the next hearing.