Telangana: Site for ecological park cleared

Warangal: Warangal Urban district would soon get an ecological park where students can observe and study various species of birds and trees.

District collector Amrapali Kata and Chief Conservator of Forests M.J. Akbar on Friday trekked through the forest area at Devunoor village in Dharmasagar mandal and decided that the place was suitable for conversion into a park that can provide information and also entertainment at the same time.

Mr Akbar said treks will be arranged for the students during which they will be shown the various species of plants, birds and butterflies. “We could arrange programmes like ‘a date with nature’ with the students or the nature lovers. In this era where the children are getting addicted to smart phones since childhood, there is a need for them to come out and help preserve nature. We will make arrangements for these educational tours or treks and soon start bringing schoolchildren here,” he said.

Ms Amrapali Kata said Warangal Urban district has very less forest area. Devunoor is the bigger of the two blocks available. “We have around 4,000-odd acres of land here. We feel with the efforts of the forest department, this could be a good resource for trekking and ecotourism, being just 20 km from the city. As part of promoting ecotourism, the forest department is doing an excellent job. There are trekking trails and opportunity for hiking etc. It could be a weekend getaway place. Hope a lot of people from Warangal would come and make use of this,” she said. Students from Kakatiya University and NIT took part in the trek.