Van Vihar National Park
| Van Vihar National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Gharial at Van Vihar
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| Location | Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Nearest city | Bhopal |
| Coordinates | 23°13′48″N 77°21′59″E / 23.23000°N 77.36639°ECoordinates: 23°13′48″N 77°21′59″E / 23.23000°N 77.36639°E |
| Area | 4.48 km2 (1.73 sq mi) |
| Established | 18 Feb. 1983 |
| Visitors |
2,50,000 |
| Governing body | Madhya Pradesh Forest Department |
2,50,000
Van Vihar National Park is a national park in central India. It is located in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. Declared a national park in 1983, it covers an area of about 4.45 km2. Although it has the status of a national park, Van Vihar is developed and managed as a modern zoological park, following the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority. The animals are kept in their near natural habitat. Most of the animals are either orphaned brought from various parts of the state or those, which are exchanged from other zoos. No animal is deliberately captured from the forest. Van Vihar is unique because it allows easy access to the visitors through a road passing through the park, security of animals assured from poachers by building trenches and walls, chain-link fence and by providing natural habitat to the animals.
About two decades back, a number of illegal stone quarries were operational in the area and being in the serene and beautiful location on the bank of big lake, many commercial organizations were trying to take hold of this valuable piece of land. Realizing importance of both in-situ and ex-situ conservation of wild fauna, it was decided to provide this area a legal umbrella under the Wildlife (protection) Act, 1972. A committee of experts was constituted to decide the modalities for constitution of this area as a Protected Area. An area of 4.4521 km2 was declared to be a national park in 1983 as per the committee's recommendation. Out of the 4.4521 km2 of land, an area 3.8839 km2 was government revenue land and rest belonged to the villagers of Prempura, Dharampuri and Amkheda. A compensation of Rs. 23.52 lakhs was paid to villagers to acquire 0.5692 km2 of private holdings. After the constitution of National Park, such acquired area was enclosed in succession with stonewall and chain link fence. The first technical document [known as Management Plan], to manage the Van Vihar, was written in the year 2000, by Jagdish Chandra, IFS, & Ex-Director of Van Vihar. Efforts of staunch protection and habitat improvement measures resulted in its enrichment in a very short period of time.
The degraded hillock of Shyamla Hill along with private village land was initiated in 1980 and finally notified as a national park in 1983. Funding from Central Zoo Authority started in 1993-94 and also granted Van Vihar as a medium sized zoo on the same year. With the dedicated efforts of the park management, this area has now been transformed into an oasis of greenery. The area today serves as the green lung for Bhopal City.
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