The Hindu : New Delhi News : New home for butterflies opened at Lodhi Gardens

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Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009
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New home for butterflies opened at Lodhi Gardens

Urvashi Sarkar

A wake-up tool for promoting awareness about nature

Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Green initiative: Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh planting a sapling while inaugurating a butterfly conservatory at Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Appreciating the opening of a butterfly conservatory at Lodhi Gardens in the Capital as a laudable initiative by the New Delhi Municipal Council and voluntary organisation Green Circle, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Monday emphasised the need for more such conservatories, especially in zoos.

“Butterflies are sensitive to change in the environment. For instance, studies suggest that there is a correlation between migration of butterflies and the monsoon pattern. I have not seen butterflies in many years which is a sign of the changing water-wind pattern in the environment,” said Mr. Ramesh after inaugurating the conservatory.

The Minister also awarded 14 workers of the NDMC Horticulture Department with certificates of appreciation.

The new conservatory is a result of collaborative efforts by the NDMC, Green Circle and Delhi University’s Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Eco-systems.

While there are over a thousand known species of butterflies in the country, the presence of only 72 species has been recorded in the Capital.

Explaining the rationale behind the new conservatory, Suhas Borker of Green Circle said: “The conservatory is a wake-up tool for promoting public awareness about nature and environmental sustainability.”

The habitat, which spans an area of three acres, will be kept as undisturbed and natural as possible. “No insecticides or pesticides have been used as the toxic fumes they give off can kill the caterpillars and larvae. The area that forms the conservatory was chosen on account of it being a partly sunny and shady location, its relative isolation and the air currents that run through it. There is a mud puddle and we have also provided a lily pond in which lotus plants from West Bengal will be planted next year,” he added.

Certain modifications were carried out in the area before it could serve as a conservatory for butterflies.

Listing the modifications, NDMC Horticulture Department director Subhash Chandra said: “We built fencing around the conservatory, made provisions for an insectory for the larvae of butterflies to multiply, and planted wild grass.”

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