DPR for biological park in Kozhikode to be ready in six months

Jain and Associates to prepare DPR for proposed Biological Park in Chakkittappara, Kozhikode, speeding up tourism project.

A Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be ready in six months for establishing the proposed biological park at Chakkittappara in Kozhikode district. Jain and Associates, a Delhi-based consultancy, has won the ₹64-lakh official contract to prepare the DPR, which is expected to speed up the ambitious tourism undertaking in the upland area.

A draft master plan had already been prepared for the project which was initially suggested as a Tiger Safari Park. The name was recently changed to Biological Park following a few technical issues raised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the subsequent opposition on the part of the Central government authorities. The instruction from the Centre was to use the ‘Tiger Safari Park’ title only for opening projects near tiger reserves.

Forest department sources said Jain and Associates were involved in the preparation of many key zoo projects in the country and their expertise would be beneficial for the district to plan the project in a better way. Kozhikode-based Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society and a Pune-based firm were also there in the second and third position, respectively when the bids were opened recently, they said.

Though the technical issues related to the finalisation of the name initially hit the pace of the project execution, Forest department officials said the formation of a separate expert committee to handle the legal and technical issues helped the project to get back on track. Legal opinion was also required in the wake of a recent Supreme Court order that had imposed a ban on tiger safaris except in the peripheral and buffer zones surrounding the national parks.

It was the emerging tourism prospect of the Chakkittappara village that prompted the State government to consider a Tiger Safari park in the area. The decision to establish the park was taken on September 27, 2023, ignoring the protests from a section of farmers and human rights activists. Though there were three locations under consideration, an eight-member panel comprising senior Forest department officials was finalising Chakkittappara as the ideal spot after their field-level studies.

Land survey works had been carried out in the area under the leadership of a six-member team led by head surveyor O.S. Pradeep Kumar. The team completed the task covering 120 hectares of land owned by the Forest department, which is now under the possession of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala following a lease agreement.

The State government had earmarked ₹2 crore for meeting the initial expenses of the project. The plan of the Forest department was to initially accommodate six tigers now protected at the Animal Hospice Centre and Palliative Care in Wayanad’s Sulthan Bathery.