Open-air Butterfly Park at Birsa Zoo.
Photo: BBBP
Expansion
Eastern India’s largest open-air butterfly park will soon be thrown open to the public at Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park (BBBP). A senior zoo official gave this information on Sunday. The park is built on a vast land of 19 acres in the premises of BBBP just opposite to the aquarium. The Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park is about 25 km from Ranchi city, which is also known as Birsa Zoo.
Phase I development work almost complete
The development work of the first phase of the park, which is aimed at providing entertainment as well as educational value to butterfly lovers, is almost complete, the official said. The estimated cost of this park is two crore rupees. The development works undertaken in the first phase include a butterfly conservatory, apart from habitat development such as planting of pollen plants, construction of a walkway to the butterfly park, a pond and a gateway.
Birsa Zoo Director Jabbar Singh said that some improvement and other works are going on in the park. It will be opened for public viewing in a month or two. He said that the park has been developed in a lush green area, which will help in making the visitors aware about the importance of butterflies in ecology. Butterflies have an important role in promoting awareness of the growing need for biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems, Singh said. The presence of a good number of butterflies is an indicator of a good natural environment.
Wildlife experts said that urban areas like Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur are polluted by the increasing number of vehicles and industries. The need of the hour is to have thematic parks like butterfly or ecological parks to reduce the impact of disturbance. He said that the existence of butterflies in the environment as pollinators of plants, food source for other animals and also plays an important role in scientific discoveries.
Jharkhand has more than 75 species of butterflies
Singh said that more than 75 species of butterflies are found in Jharkhand. A favorable environment will be created in the park so that the butterflies can grow naturally. A covered conservatory has been built in an area of 900 square meters to protect them from birds and any other prey, he said.
The zoo authority will try to keep most of the species found in Jharkhand like Tawny Coaster, Sergeant, Bush Brown, Baronet, Plain Tiger, Lemon Pansy, Common Sailor and others in the park. More facilities will be added to the park in the coming phases. At present, pathways and benches have been installed for the visitors and more facilities will be provided to the tourists in the coming days. Singh said that apart from this, more nurseries will also be made for butterflies.
In 2017, the then CM Raghubar Das laid the foundation
The first phase of the park took about six years to complete, said a senior forest official. The then Chief Minister Raghubar Das laid the foundation stone of the park on June 29, 2017. However, work on the project began three years later in 2020. The implementation of the project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that the park is almost ready to open to the public. It will have two entrances, he said. One will be the main entrance towards the Aquarium and the other entrance will be towards the guest house.
There will be a ticket window and a conservation room at the main entrance, he said. The annual maintenance of the butterfly park habitat will cost around Rs 25 lakh. Spread over an area of 104 hectares in Ormanjhi area of Ranchi, this biological park houses about 1,450 animals of 83 species of mammals, reptiles and birds.