Hyderabad: Once Hugely Popular Butterfly Park Remains Forsaken

Hyderabad: The butterfly park, opposite the Sanjeevaiah park near Hussainsagar, has remained closed for several years. Most flowering plants that attract butterflies have dried up.

The entrance of the park is in bad shape with rust and vegetation overtaking it, a far cry from the situation a few years back.

"It has remained closed ever since the Covid-19 lockdown. Hardly anyone comes to the park. Before the pandemic, there were a lot of visitors, who took pleasure in clicking pictures of the butterflies,” said Veera Bhadra, a hawker, who has been selling lemonade in the vicinity since 2014.

After normalcy was restored post-Covid, some caretakers used to visit the park but now there is hardly any staff to look after what was once a mesmerising lung space.

“It’s been months since I saw caretakers in this park,” said Veer Shetty, an electrician.

While D. Jagan, GHMC deputy commissioner of Khairatabad, and other officials initially said that the park was under the jurisdiction of HMDA, they later admitted that the onus of maintaining the lung space lay with the corporation.

“The park is under maintenance and not closed. Caretakers are working there,” said Srinivas from the GHMC urban biodiversity wing, who oversees the park.