Efforts begin to develop Kanihar city lake area before Mahakumbh

PRAYAGRAJ : With the state government having already announced its plans to organise Mahakumbh-2025 in Prayagraj on a mega scale, the district administration too is has begun efforts to develop a dedicated lake forest area as a major tourist destination before the start of the religious fair.

The proposed Kanihar forest city lake would be developed jointly by Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA). To come up over an area of 65.68 hectare of vacant land lying near Jhunsi and Andawa village, hardly a few kilometres from the heart of the Sangam city, the Kanihar city lake project would be act as a getaway for the denizens and a must-visit site for tourists who want to spend quality time in in the lap of nature.

As per the plans, while the PDA is gearing up to set up the forest using the famed Miyawaki technique, the PMC is gearing up to hire a consultant and work on rejuvenating the existing lake at the site. The approximate cost of the project is Rs 92.5 crore.

Although not an essential part of the mega project, PDA has already floated a tender to develop the forest land in 2-hectare area near the natural lake of Kanihar in two months. On its part, PMC too has tightened its belt to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) of the project and submit the same for getting the needed funds.

“With the help of experts, we would be renovating the Kanihar lake area of Jhunsi for which PMC would take the help of expert architects and consultant which PMC would soon be hiring,” said chief engineer, PMC, Satish Kumar.

Kumar further said the lake is spread over a large area and PMC would develop it as a centre of tourism. To provide a place of stay near the lake and its surroundings, there could also be cottages where visitors would be able to stay for few days while watching the birds and natural beauty.

Before the renovation, PMC is planning to build a boundary around the lake to protect it from encroachment. Few months back, municipal commissioner Ravi Ranjan and the chief engineer had also inspected the lake area which is around 3 km from Ganga. If everything goes according to plan, the project would be completed before the Mahakumbh to be held in 2025.

The approach road to the proposed site has already been constructed. A wall of around 4.5 km would be proposed around the lake so that it can be completely protected. After this, the main gate will be constructed on GT Road, along with two more gates located on the approach roads.

Rohit Khanna, superintendent engineer, PDA, said, “PDA is preparing a proposal and the same would be sent to the state government for the first phase of the project. There will be very little concrete construction in the plan and the site would have natural pathways made of grass along with landscape, playing area for kids, an open gymnasium, boating facility etc.”

Miyawaki technique Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki that helps build dense, native forests. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual. It involves planting dozens of native species in the same area and becomes maintenancefree after the first three years. This Japanese method takes the form of a dense jungle bun in 15 to 20 years whereas in the normal method it takes more than 100 years to form a forest.