The Butterfly Park in Sector 26, Chandigarh. (Express/Sahil Walia)
SPREAD over seven acres, Butterfly Park in Sector 26 here is an expanse of beauty and tranquility, surprisingly undiscovered by many in Chandigarh. Built in 2012 by the forest department, the park is yet to get on the list of the visitors’ must-see places in Chandigarh. Reason, lack of butterflies in the Butterfly Park.
Kulbhushan Kanwar, in-charge of the Butterfly Park and an environmentalist, confirmed that the number of butterflies has decreased in the park. “But this is not just in the Butterfly Park. This decrease in the numbers can be attributed to excessive pollution and extreme climatic conditions. But, what’s worth noticing is that though the number may have decreased, the species have increased,” he said, adding that they wanted to create awareness among people about the butterflies. “Often I’ve seen people admiring the butterflies, but there’s not much that general public knows about these beauties. With this park, we wanted people to learn more about them and get closer to nature,” said Kamwar.
Santosh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest, however, disagreed that the number of butterflies have decreased in the park. “I do not agree that it’s decreasing. It’s seasonal variation and as summer sets in their numbers drop. They generally do not come out in heat and (so) their visibility is less,” he said.
This decrease seems to have seriously affected the footfall here, even though the place is packed with fun facts and detailed explanations about different species of butterflies. According to Kumar, even the decrease in the number of visitors is result of summers setting in.
The park is replete with an assortment of host trees for butterflies — Ashoka, Salix, Mango, Amla Palm and so on – the credit for which goes to Balkishan who has been taking care of the park for the last three years. “I consider this place my home and nothing gives me more happiness than helping it thrive. You should visit the park in October, you will see almost all the 35 species,” he promised.
Work, however, is on to increase and attract more butterflies and in the process more visitors. Kanwar added that recent studies have shown that some butterflies extract food from bird droppings, dead animals etc. “So, we are trying to work and make available such supplements. Also, we are trying to increase the amount of moisture in the area by constructing more waterfalls,” he said.