Eastern India’s biggest open butterfly park and the first of its kind in the state will be ready at the Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ormanjhi, around 26km from Ranchi, by March next year.
The construction of the Rs 2-crore park sprawling across 19 acres near botanical garden began earlier this week.
Chief conservator of forest and director of the zoo, D. Venkateswarlu, said: “The construction of the first phase of the open butterfly park (without any enclosure) began earlier this week and we are expecting to complete it by the end of March. In the first phase, we will clean up the area and plant a number of host and nectar plants to attract the butterflies. The second phase will be a bit time-consuming. A private party would be engaged to complete it within the a stipulated deadline of March 2021.”
Sources in the zoo said after cleaning shrubs, bushes and boulders and undertaking minor levelling work, a barbed wire fence would be erected to demarcate the 190-acre butterfly park inside the zoo, which is spread over 114 acres.
A walkway made of paver blocks will be built for the visitors inside the park.
Ormanjhi range forest officer Ram Chandra Paswan said the second phase of the butterfly park would include the conservatory or the butterfly house.
“It will be a glass building that will provide a favourable atmosphere for butterflies to grow. It will be made of glass to educate visitors about the life cycle of butterflies. We will finalise a private agency for the construction of the conservatory. The agency will also build a water pool inside the butterfly park,” Paswan said.
Zoo officials claim that more than 50 species of butterflies will be housed in the
butterfly park. The butterfly park will have display boards for visitors to identify different breeds and learn interesting facts about them.
“Butterflies will automatically come if they find a suitable habitat filled with colourful plants. We will be arrange excursions for students. We will try to develop it as a tourist spot as well,” the zoo official said.
