Bio - Diversity Park

The city of Surat is originally situated on the bank of river Tapi and the Arabian Sea is to its west at a distance of about 22 km along the Tapi and about 16 km by road. During the recent expansion of city limits, 27 villages and 8 municipalities were added to the limits of Surat City. Moreover, the city limit expansion has put Surat now on banks of both rivers namely, Tapi in the north and the Mindhola in the South. However, there are a number of natural waterways traversing through Surat city which carry inflows from many areas of city and ultimately dispose the water to Mindhola River at a location approximately 8 km downstream to its mouth in the Arabian Sea.

The main creek of Surat is known by several names such as Varachcha, Mithi, Kankara, Koyali, Bhedwad, Sonari, and Khajod (creek) as it progresses, lastly merging into the Mindhola river near Khajod. Due to several reasons, these drains have deteriorated over time. They get submerged during the monsoons and there are growing incidents of crime, nuisance and illegal activities in these areas. The tributaries to the creek originate in the east and north east portion of Surat, joining and flowing towards center of Surat, across various national/ state highways, eventually exiting from the south and before joining Mindhola. The stretch of Kankara Creek from Dr. Hedgewar bridge near Bhatar towards Bhimrad - Bamroli Bridge, has been covered under this project.

The proposed project will be implemented on the reclaimed creek land and also in the adjoining plots belonging to Town Planning Schemes. The aim is to rejuvenate the existing wasteland of Kankara creek through a range of activities. Under this project a biodiversity park for preserving flora and fauna will be developed and the wasteland will be made accessible to the public by developing it into a usable public space through the CITIIS grant.