Chennai: Chennai will soon have a Tree Park housing about 300 species, brought from the Eastern and Western Ghats. This park will come up on an 8-hectare area on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam road in Chennai, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa informed on Thursday. This project would come up at a cost of Rs 2 crore as part of an initiative by the state government to save about 230 species of plants, Ms Jayalalithaa said while making a statement under Rule 110 in the Assembly. The Tree Park would be implemented by the Forest Research Division.
She also informed that a Seed Centre would be set up at a cost of Rs 2 crore in Tiruchy to address the needs of the state’s Central and delta areas. Containing all modern facilities for collection, research, storage and distribution of quality seeds, the centre would also cater to the requirements of the agricultural and industrial sectors in the supply of medicinal plants. “Women Entrepreneur Groups will be formed and medicinal plants will be cultivated and sold through them,” Ms Jayalalithaa said. In the first phase, this would be implemented in Salem, Dharmapuri and Namakkal districts, she said.
Further, in an effort to facilitate the people in far flung areas to see the animals at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, infra red cameras would be installed at 20 vantage locations in the zoo and webcast live. About '50 lakh would be spent for this.
