Singareni Collieries Company develops Eco Park in Kothagudem

The park has come up on a sprawling 20 hectares of land at the backfill area at the base of the overburden at Gowthamkhani opencast project area as a remediation measure for the project expansion.

Kothagudem: The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has developed an Eco Park in Kothagudem as part of its efforts to protect the environment.

The park has come up on a sprawling 20 hectares of land at the backfill area at the base of the overburden at Gowthamkhani opencast project area as a remediation measure for the project expansion. The company has spent Rs 2.50 crore in developing the park while Rs.25 lakh has been spent on forestry works. A Bio-diversity Park has been developed within the park with as many as 50 rare and unique plant species.

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The company’s DGM (Forestry) Harinarayana told Telangana Today that the Eco Park consisted of 4000 square metres of lawn while about 5000 different flowing and horticulture plants were planted all over the park. There was also a palm grove with 22 local and exotic palm trees.He informed that two ponds each spread over two to three acres of area have been developed with a pedal boating facility for the visitors along with a view point. It also consists of a nursery suitable for growing about two lakh plants.

An apiculture unit with 12 beehive boxes has been set up with bee species Apis cerana and Apis mellifera. A Butterfly Park has been developed to sustain nearly 20 varieties of butterflies with different host plants and nectar plants. The host plants include Aegle marmelos (Maredu or bael), Feronia limonia (wood apple), Lime, Polyalthia (Ashoka), Calotropis (Jilledu), Ceiba pentandra (kapok tree) and others. The nectar plants include Lantana, Jatropha, Hibiscus, Pentas, Cannas, Ixora and others, the DGM said.A children’s play area with items like trampoline, sliding bar, seesaw, swing and others were also installed in the park. The Eco-Park with garden pagodas, fountains, cafeteria and surrounded by lush green plantation would be a great spot for the SCCL workers, their family members, besides the public in Kothagudem and surrounding areas to unwind, Harinarayana added.