New tree park honoring Salumarada Thimmakka to be built in North Bengaluru: Eshwar Khandre
Bengaluru: Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre stated that a stone laying ceremony would soon be held for 'Salumarada Thimmakka Sasyodyana' in the model of Cubbon Park at the 153-acre forest land in Madappanahalli near Yelahanka RTO office. This would aid in remedying the lack of 'lung space' in the northern part of Bengaluru city, he said. He was addressing the valedictory ceremony of 'Wildlife week' at Aranya Bhavana in Bengaluru on Monday.
"The 153-acre forest land had been leased to the State Forest Development Corporation. As the contract period is over now, the forest department will develop a Cubbon Park style tree park, with the aid of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund. Bengaluru has grown far and wide around Yelahanka. So if we build the Salumarada Thimmakka Tree Park here to benefit people, this will be a top level attraction", he said.
Citing a recent Indian Forest Survey report, Khandre said that Bengaluru, the third largest city in India, had about 89 sq. km of forest which amounted to 6.81% tree cover. However, around 5 sq. km of tree cover was lost in the last ten years, he said.
"The fast growing Bengaluru city needs to reclaim its legacy of being a 'garden city'. The department must collaborate with the public to conduct more and more tree planting events. Along with this, we need to recover the encroached forest land in the capital city", Khandre stated.
Referring to how people throng zoos and jungle safaris to be enchanted by the wildlife in weekends, the Minister for Ecology said that all of us had the responsibility to protect and conserve these wonderful creatures which made us happy. This was why the department conducted a wildlife week from October 2 to 8 of every year, he said.
School children who won various competitions held during the Wildlife Week were awarded prizes during the occasion. A wild life photography and postal stamps exhibition was also held at the event.
Forest Department Additional Chief Secretary Manjunath Prasad, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Task Force Brijesh Kumar Dixit, Chief Wildlife Warden Subhash Malkhede and others were present.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
