Timely response bears green oasis

KOCHI: Once a quaint suburb, Kothamangalam today is rapidly turning into a concrete jungle. But the efforts undertaken by the Forest Department have brought in a whiff of fresh to the town. In a year, barren 40 cents of land, right in front of the Forest Office, has been transformed into a mini jungle, christened as the Oxygen Park.Today the green patch is home to many butterfly varieties and birds, besides, the pond inside the park has hundreds of fish thriving in it.

“Last year, we decided to make use of the land in front of the office because the whole area was turning into a concrete jungle. By October 2019, we were planting saplings, including a Nakshatravanam, and building the pond. The aim was to make it the green lung of Kothamangalam and provide students with an educational experience. In a year, we have taken that big leap with Oxygen Park.

Today there are many varieties of plants, including rare species found only in the Western Ghats,” says P K Thampi, range officer. As a next step, the department has decided to set up a digital library of the trees. The Botany Department of Mar Athanasius College has been entrusted with the task. 

“We want to create a reord of all trees here, especially the medicinal varieties. Oxygen Park has over 200 species, including sandalwood and 10 varieties of bamboo. The QR code-enabled digital library aims to help students know and learn about the green treasures here,” says Thampi.  The saplings were gifted free of cost by Nagarjuna Herbals, a prominent medicine manufacturer. The department also sourced various species of water algae.