On the direction of Chief Minister Raman Singh, the Forest department has started work to create Asia's biggest Banaspati Udyan or botanical garden near Khandwa village in Naya Raipur.
The Chief Minister has been taking keen interest to promote eco-tourism and it was as per his initiative that the garden would be developed on 153 hectares of area near Khandwa reservoir, close to the planned forest safari. A team comprising of Dr RK Ray, a scientist of the National Botanical Research Institute or 'Rashtriya Vanaspati Anusandhan Sansthan lucknow and Chhattisgarh forest research centre director KC Yadav and several other experts went to the proposed site for an on the spot assessment.
They also met chief executive of the NayaRaipur Development Authority (NRDA) Amit Kataria and senior officials of the Forest and other concerned departments and held a discussion with them. Yadav said the botanical garden will house plants of different varieties and would be used for various research activities. He said the garden would be useful for the botany students and teachers.
He said plants samples would be collected from all districts and would be planted at the garden. Plant germplasm would also be preserved for future. As per the plan, different preservation area would be created in the garden which includes palm house, cactus house and bonsai house etc. The government has also planned to create a butterfly garden in the area. Besides required number of ponds would be created, he said. The state government has entrusted the state forest research centre to implement the project.
