Bawankule delaying Buddhist theme park project: Ex-min Raut

NAGPUR: Even as the BJP-Shiv Sena government is tomtoming Buddhist tourist circuit, a related project conceived by Congress-NCP government has been seemingly put in cold storage. Nitin Raut, ex-minister and former Nagpur North MLA, had proposed a Buddhist theme park on the banks of Telangkhedi lake. There has been no progress on this project ever since he lost the elections in October 2014.Guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had proposed a Buddhist theme park in Kamptee but it has been scrapped.
Raut has squarely blamed Bawankule for delaying the project, to be spread over 100 acres. “Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had asked the minister to hold a meeting on the project but months have passed since then,” the ex-minister told TOI.
The guardian minister, however, claimed the project was stuck due to some legal cases. “We will have to first take care of the legal angle before going ahead with the project,” he said without elaborating.
Buddist theme park titled Buddhaland is an ambitious project. It is to come up on the area adjoining the Telangkhedi lake except the waterfront. The attractions include a nature park, landscaped gardens, lake promenade, boating and lake front recreation, river cave rides, nursery and conservatory, children activity park, ethnic food court, a small mono rail, games arcade, library and research centre and hotels and guesthouses.
The park had been neglected by Congress-NCP government too. In December 2009, then chief minister Ashok Chavan had announced during the assembly session that the park would be set up in Nagpur. In May 2010 Raut asked NIT to appoint an international consultant for it. The project remained on hold until May 2014 when Raut got an inspection done by principal secretary (tourism) and faculty of JJ School of Arts. There has been no progress since then.
Environmentalists feel any such park should not come up on the banks of a lake. Kaustav Chatterjee of Green Vigil said whenever construction was done on the banks of a water body, its ecology was disturbed. “The area surrounding a water body is home to large number of species. These species lose their habitat if such projects come up in this area,” he added.