Vashi's butterfly effect

Even Michael Jackson gave break-dancing a break to make a song about them. Now, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is planning to develop a garden at Vashi in another two years that will be home to exotic species of butterflies. People will be able to enjoy sighting the beautiful arthropods at this garden, which will have advanced facilities for nurturing and preserving the insects.

Sagar Naik, mayor of Navi Mumbai under NMMC's jurisdiction, said that he would expedite the process of development of this butterfly garden.u00a0"Nowadays we hardly see butterflies in city areas. They were in abundance here a few years ago. We have studied the feasibility of this project and have decided to develop the garden at a reserved plot in Vashi."

With exotic butterflies imported from across the globe, NMMC also intends to develop and maintain the garden at par with international standards. "The butterfly garden will be an enclosed structure with green walls having advanced cooling systems.u00a0

We have studied all the stages in the life cycle of a butterfly and will get required types of plants to feed caterpillars. Biologists will be roped in for proper maintenance of the garden," said Naik.

As the project is in its nascent stages, fund allocation hasn't been made yet. Such a venture will be carried out here for the first time and investment will be made only after a detailed study is done, sources in NMMC said. They will also analyse the necessary rules to be followed for getting imported exotic butterflies into the garden.u00a0

>> BMC had mooted plans in 2008 to convert Bhatiau00a0

>>u00a0Baug at CST into a butterfly gardenu00a0

>>u00a0Nearly 4,466 sq metres of open space were allottedu00a0in this well-maintained gardenu00a0

>>u00a0As per the plan, flowers with high fragrance and nectar were to be planted at the site so as to attract a minimum of 70 butterflies of eight to ten different species. The project is yet to see the light of dayu00a0

There is a 2-acre butterfly park called the Ovalekar Wadi Butterfly Garden off Ghodbunder Road in the outskirts of Thane