Botanical Garden to be opened today; will have three km long walkway in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: What earlier was just another lung space in the middle of Hyderabad’s IT corridor, the Botanical Garden at Kothaguda is all set to be thrown open to the public today with an ultra image makeover.

Freshly developed with recreational amenities, it will be thrown open to general public today (on July 11).
Out of total 274 acres of a reserve forest, the developmental activities are being restricted to 12 acres of the visitors zone of Botanical Garden under IGBN Green New Building Rating System.

The new attractions include Nakshatra Vanam, Rasi Vanam and  Navagraha Vanam with a beautiful, systematic and scientific pattern, and display boards. Another attraction is  a herbal and medicinal garden with more than 60 species of plants with display boards explaining their importance and uses in daily life. A small Butterfly Park with a rare collection of attractive xerophytic plants in Cactus garden will serve as an added attraction to the visitors. Keeping in view the city’s citizens’ desire to stay fit, an indoor gym with modern equipment has been built.

Authorities have even built an open yoga platform and a big shed/meditation centre which can accommodate more than 200 people at a time. The practitioners will be surrounded by green lawns with a statue of Buddha. The park will have a pathway of nearly  3 Kms long for the walkers.

Criminal cases against encroachers
Hyderabad: With the completion of the encroachment drive, the GHMC is now planning stringent action against those found erecting new structures on footpaths. The plan is to slap a penalty of `10,000 and file criminal cases against violators. On Tuesday, they slapped fines on the people for violating the rules at  places such Miyapur, and Attapur and collected `44,100 in fines