IWMB gets Monal’s control amid wildlife educational centre plan

Islamabad : The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), the custodian of the Margalla Hills National Park, has taken the control of the sealed Monal restaurant in the hill range to turn it into a wildlife educational centre.

The city administration had sealed the restaurant early last month after the Islamabad High Court declared commercial activities in the national park illegal and ordered the handing over of the restaurant’s premises to the IWMB to protect, conserve and manage the national park, which is home to hundreds of bird species and scores of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

According to the IWMB, the education centre to be put up at the site of the Monal restaurant overlooking the federal capital will further the cause of the protection and preservation of Margalla wildlife.

The proposal already cleared by the city’s civic agency, Capital Development Authority (CDA), is with the climate change ministry for approval and necessary legislation.

IWMB chairperson Rina S Khan Satti said the high court’s intervention would help improve biodiversity, promote plants and animals, and restore the Margalla Hills National Park’s ecosystem to give the present and future generations an opportunity to experience and enjoy nature, and learn to value it.

She said the board with the help of volunteers was striving to reduce threats to the national park from the illegal felling of trees, hunting of animals and birds, forest fires, construction, and encroachments, littering, and pollution, and was also working with the local communities and visitors to raise environmental awareness.

According to the IWMB chairperson, the premises of the erstwhile Islamabad Marghazar Zoo, which was closed down on the court’s May 2020 orders over outrageous conditions, are being turned into a wildlife park with a separate centre for the animals injured by the people. Also, the board will begin limited guided tours of the Leopard Preserve Zone in the MHNP soon.