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Dhar: 5 years on, no end to wait for fossil park

INDORE: The wait for dinosaur fossil park in Dhar is still on since 2014 as forest department has not approved its detailed project report ( DPR ). For past five years, the department has been making changes in the project leading to development of the park at a snail’s pace.


In the 2017-18 fiscal year, a sum of Rs 40 lakh was spent by the department in fencing fossil rich 89.74 hectares of land for the park.

An entry gate to the park was also constructed and plantation, too, had started but the DPR is yet to be approved. “In the next fiscal year, we will set up a ticket counter in the fossil park and develop an amenities centre, which will have an exhibition area and a hall, where students can be brought in for lectures on the park,” DFO Satyendra Kumar Sagar said.

The department is planning to seek an even higher fund from government for the park in this financial year. Necessary changes are being made in the DPR in consultation with other scientists and geologists. But even on the scientific front the work is making slow progress.

“In 2011, a committee comprising experts, who specialized in areas such as identification of eggs, tree fossils and vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, was formed. However, it rarely convened any meeting. We had also enlisted help of senior scientist from Delhi Ashok Sahni for the purpose. He helped us by making field visits and identifying eggs and other fossils,” geologist Vishal Verma said.

With the slow progress being made on the implementation of the DPR, the wait for getting a functional fossil park with a museum , might get much longer.

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