‘Anandabana’ all set to regale Odisha capital denizens

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), in collaboration with the Forest department, has developed ‘Anandabana’, an urban forest, in the Odisha capital here.

The urban forest has been developed on 89.05 acres of land in Kalinganagar area of the capital city. It has been divided into two patches with a foot overbridge in the middle.

The area was lying as a barren stretch of revenue forest land a few years ago. The BDA, in collaboration of the City Forest Division, has developed Anandabana—Ananda (happiness) and Bana (forest).

The urban forest has several varieties of trees, including bamboo, neem and banyan. Besides, one can find at least 60 types of medicinal plants at the newly-developed facility, sources said.

Each and every tree variety of trees at the urban forest has a barcode pasted on it. The visitors can check details regarding the tree, including its medicinal qualities, by scanning the barcode, sources added.

In addition to this, the authorities have constructed tree houses, rope bridge, wooden bridge and rose garden at Aanandabana to attract the visitors.

The facility has soil, rock and bicycle trails for the visitors. Moreover, the authorities have set up sitting facilities, an interpretation centre, open-air theatre, Mission Shakti stalls, toilets and parking lots at the urban forest.

“The urban forest has several ponds inside it. The facility will be dedicated to people very soon,” said a source in the BDA.