Central Park (Banabitan), Salt Lake

Central Park in Salt Lake, officially the Banabitan Biodiversity Park, is a public park run by the West Bengal Forest Department. It is counted as the third largest open space in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, behind only the Maidan and Eco Park, though almost half of it was given over to the Green Line metro depot, working since 2018. Central Park metro station adjoins it, and the Karunamoyee bus terminus is close by.

The park is laid out around a large lake, where a bridge leads to an island with a pagoda and a fenced-off stretch near the rose garden is used for boating. Lesser whistling ducks, moorhens, white-breasted waterhens, cattle egrets and cormorants are among the birds seen here. The rose garden lies near Gate No. 1, and a butterfly garden planted with the shrubs and trees that butterflies and caterpillars feed on is tended with help from the Nature Mates nature club.