Mullayanagiri as conservation reserve will protect Neelakurinji species

The Karnataka forest department is pressing the revenue department to give its concurrence to declare and protect revenue lands in Mullayanagiri, Chikkamagaluru, as a conservation reserve.

- BOSKY KHANNA @Bengaluru

THE Karnataka forest department is pressing the revenue department to give its concurrence to declare and protect revenue lands in Mullayanagiri, Chikkamagaluru, as a conservation reserve. This will protect the area where Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes sessilis) flowers bloom in large numbers.

"When the proposal was first conceptualised, the area identified in Mullayanagiri where the Neelakurinji blooms was 16,000 acres in 2020. When the proposal was reconsidered and cleared at the last State Wildlife Board meeting, the area had been reduced to 9,000 acres," sources in the department said.