Urban forest within Rajkot city to help citizens breathe easy

Rajkot: Citizens will soon have another place to breathe in fresh oxygen!.
A barren land sprawling 47 acres near Aji dam will be converted into an ‘urban forest’ with all amenities of recreation. At present, Race Course, Pradhyuman Park Zoo and Ishwariya Lake are the favourite hang-out spots. The idea that was floated a year ago is now ready for execution.
The state government had handed over the 47 acres land last year for this project to Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) and sanctioned nearly Rs 18 crore for the purpose.
RMC has floated tenders to select a developer and plans to lay the foundation stone for this project next week. The urban forest will have nearly 40,000 trees of different varieties along with other amusement facilities.
Municipal commissioner Udit Agarwal said, “This will be a forest within the city and not a mere garden. There will be fewer cement-concrete structures and more green cover. It will be a beautiful recreation centre for people who will get a feel of moving around in a forest.”
There are five natural water bodies around this land, which will be deepened and get filled with rain water.
City engineer Alapna Mitra said “The urban forest will have 18 blocks which will have a total of 59 different varieties of trees. There will be an entertainment zone and an open-air theatre. We are also planning a dedicated kids' section and labyrinthine maze for them.”
RMC also plans a cycling and walking track around the lakes that will be connected with wooden bridges.
The trees will be divided in different zones like ayurvedic zone, flowers, decorative plants, artistic trees, nesting trees for birds, fruits and others.
KD Hapaliya, director, plants and gardens, RMC, said, “This is stony terrain, but it has a great potential to become an urban forest. We expect migratory birds to visit once the five water bodies are developed.”
Over 300 species of migratory birds visit the adjacent Lalpari lake.