Uttar Pradesh

• 19 Aug 2022

Country's First Night Safari to Begin in Lucknow

Why in News?

On August 16, 2022, the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved the proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department to start the country's first night safari in the capital Lucknow.

Key Points

• Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh said that on the lines of Singapore's world's first night safari, this night safari in Lucknow will be developed on 350 acres in Kukrail forest area spread over an area of 2027.46 hectare and a zoological park will be built in 150 acres.
• Here separate safaris will be made for Tiger, Leopard and Bear. Lucknow's historic Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden will be shifted from the present place to Night Safari. Kukrail river will be developed as a beautiful riverfront. Toy train will also be run in Night Safari.
• This will be the first night safari in the country. At present there are 13 open day safaris in the country, but not a single night safaris.
• The entrance of Night Safari will be grand and attractive. Interpretation center, Butterfly Interpretation Center will also be built here. Apart from this, there are plans to make Leopard Safari in 75 acres, Bear Safari in 60 acres and Tiger Safari in 75 acres.
• Wild animals will be kept in the kettle grid in the open sky instead of in the enclosure. There will be an open air nocturnal zoo, which will be open only at night. In the safari at night, arrangements will be made for the animals in dim light like the light of the moon. A modern theme park will be built for the tourists during the day.
• Under world-class facilities, night safari will also include train rides and jeep rides with local guides. Apart from this, facilities like canopy walk, camping activity, mountain bike track, wall climbing, tree top restaurant, nature trail and food court will be developed.

Cabinet Approves Formation of Uttar Pradesh Eco-Tourism Development Board

Why in News?

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on August 16, 2022, approved the proposal for the formation of the Uttar Pradesh Eco-Tourism Development Board for the development and management of tourism infrastructure facilities in the permissible areas outside the forest sanctuaries of the state.

Key Points

• Eco-Tourism Board will be headquartered in Lucknow and Chief Minister will be its chairman.
• 10 departments (Tourism, Forest, AYUSH, Rural Development, Irrigation, Urban Development, Agriculture, Horticulture, Sports and Transport) have been included in this board.
• The composition of the Board will be the Eco-Tourism Development Board and the Eco-Tourism Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will be responsible for the necessary action to fulfill the objectives of the Environment Tourism Development Board.
• Eco-tourism Development Board will facilitate activities like Trekking, hiking, cycling, caravan tourism, seaplane and river cruise, adventure tourism as well as hotels, resorts and infrastructure facilities, ballooning, jungle camping and wellness tourism such as- Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy etc for the development of the eco-tourism sector.
• The members of the Development Board will be of two types. In these, the official (ex-officio) members and special ministers will be members. Agriculture Minister, Forest Minister, Ayush Minister, Finance Minister, Tourism Minister, Irrigation Minister, Rural Development Minister, Chief Secretary, Principal Chief Conservator and Head of Department, MD of Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation will be members of the board.
• The Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Secretary will be the Member Secretary of the Tourism Board. Additional Chief Secretary / Principal Secretary Environment, Forest and Climate Change will be in the role of its coordinator.
• Representatives of IRCTC, representative of Sashastra Seema Bal Uttar Pradesh, representative of World Wildlife Fund India, representative of Bombay Natural History Society, representative of Turtle Conservation Fund, representative of Katarniaghat Foundation, five nominated environment and tourism experts will be special ministers. Apart from this, two other reputed institutions working in the field of environment as special ministers will be selected for every two years.