Rock Garden to be set up in Berhampur city (Odisha)

Tourists visiting Odisha will soon have a new destination - a Rock Garden - in line with the one at Chandigarh. The proposed rock garden is to come up in Ambapua locality here and will require about Rs 7 crore, officials said here.

The state government has already sanctioned Rs 50 lakh for carrying out preliminary work on the proposed project which would be executed by Berhampur Development Authority (BDA).

Secretary of BDA Dipti Mohapatra said a Delhi-based architectural firm had designed the park and the same was presented before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"We have prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed rock garden. It will be submitted to the government soon for approval", Mohapatra said.

About two acres of land have already been identified for the purpose and efforts are on to acquire more adjoining land to add more features in the proposed garden, she said.

Giving an outline of the proposed project, she said as the name suggest, almost all artefacts in the garden would be made of rock and sculptures carved out of stone. The garden would be illuminated by solar energy, water to be stored through rain water harvesting structure besides other amusement facilities.

While stone carvers from different parts of Odisha and outside are likely to be engaged for the purpose, reputed designers will be consulted to make it more attractive, they said. "Our aim is to make the garden an attractive place for visitors, nature lovers, youngsters and children", Mohapatra said.

Press Trust of India | May 17, 2015