T.N. to have Slender Loris and Dugong Conservation centres in two years

A slender loris seen at Urankaradu, a reserve forest area near Ayyalur in Dindigul earlier this year. The Loris centre will come up in Ayyalur
| Photo Credit: Karthikeyan G

After declaring the nation’s first Slender Loris Sanctuary and Dugong Conservation Reserve, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has plans to set up the conservation centres for both in two years.

While the Loris centre will come up in Ayyalur in Dindigul district, the Dugong centre will come up at Manora in Thanjavur district, said Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forests.

The Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) of the respective districts have already prepared a 3-D walk-through concept visualization of the proposed facilities in these two centres, which could function as referenced for the consultants to be selected. The proposed development will take place in phases, with the first phase including the main building and related facilities that will be established in two years.

Apart from the proposed state-of-the-art facility of the ‘Slender Loris Conservation Centre’, the area will have related physical infrastructure such as frontage, an eco-tower, an elevated walkway, Vana Poonga, a night party studio, a nature photo station, an adventure park, a children’s play zone, eco shop/cafeteria, a succulent and xerophytic garden, a Loris lore Conservation Center, a world primate arena, Loris world, trees for the etc.

The Dugong Conservation Centre will serve as the centre of attention of the whole project. The main building structure will be inspired from the shape of a dugong. It will house all modern technological facilities that can attract people, and for the promotion of the conservation viewpoint on dugongs. This will also be an eco-friendly green building.

The main building will have Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR) segments on dugongs and sea grass: 3-D laser projection/hologram facilities; Dugongs and sea grass monitoring/tracking facilities and a Dugong gene sequencing / Environmental DNA Research Facility. There will be a marine museum, amphitheater, marine exploration centre and a fishermen’s cove.