New Butterfly Park to Boost Taj Tourism

Millions of visitors to the Taj Mahal may soon get an opportunity to indulge in nature as authorities planning a butterfly park near the historic monument.

To be built at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore, the park will come up next to the Taj nature walk and likely to boost tourism. It will be thrown open to the public sometime next year.

In the initial phase, the work for which is to start in January next year, 18 varieties of local butterflies will be bred in a controlled environment. An amphitheater and an interpretation centre would also be created to inform people about different butterflies.

The project will be executed by the Agra Development Authority (ADA) and the project report will be submitted to the civic agency in this regard by this month end.

Forest officials said that the flowers in the nature walk are home to a variety of butterflies like the common leopard, common sulphar, common grass yellow and plain tiger. As many as 46 varieties of flowers are grown every year from October to April in the flower beds in the nature walk.

There are only a few butterfly parks in the country at present. The first park was opened in Bengaluru in 2006, followed by Pune and Surat. Officials said that butterfly parks are a major attraction for nature lovers and tourists. A similar facility is also being planned in Delhi.