Makeover of Mumbai zoo gets delayed by a decade

  • | Wednesday | 18th September, 2019

While the work to give the 53-acre Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Zoo and Botanical Garden, a much-needed makeover is being currently carried out on war footing, the project of providing Mumbai with a state-of-art zoo is running with a delay of about a decade. A senior BMC official said that large sum of money, as well as time, has been wasted in dealing with the legal hurdles and changing the plans numerous times along with political interventions. It was in 2007 when BMC proposed a whopping Rs 433 crore zoo makeover and the master plan was prepared by Thailand-based HKS Designer and Consultancy. The plan was also soon challenged by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) in 2010. "The BMC cannot allege that the project was delayed due to petitions and protests.

While the work to give the 53-acre Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Zoo and Botanical Garden, a much-needed makeover is being currently carried out on war footing, the project of providing Mumbai with a state-of-art zoo is running with a delay of about a decade. A senior BMC official said that large sum of money, as well as time, has been wasted in dealing with the legal hurdles and changing the plans numerous times along with political interventions. "The citizen groups started protesting in 2007 and instead of discussing issues find an amicable solution, they approached the court," said the official. It was in 2007 when BMC proposed a whopping Rs 433 crore zoo makeover and the master plan was prepared by Thailand-based HKS Designer and Consultancy. The plan was even submitted to Central Zoo Authority (CZA) in 2009, however, several city-based organisations and individuals began opposing the project citing that it would destroy the heritage botanical garden as several heritage trees required removal for the proposed construction. The masterplan included different zones including Australian, African, Indian and others along with it a night safari, along with an eatery opposite the glass viewing Cheetah enclosure. However, to protect the botanical garden that occupies almost 63% of the zoo, a group of like-minded citizens formed the Save Rani Bagh Committee in 2007 and then in 2010 even filed a PIL in the Bombay HC in 2010 challenging the entire plan. The plan was also soon challenged by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) in 2010. "After all this, a new committee was appointed by CZA, which gave recommendations based on which a new plan was prepared in 2011 and approved by the CZA in 2012. The new plan maintained the existing footprint and only made a total of 5% changes without hampering or having removal of any heritage trees," said another BMC official adding that post these the tenders were floated in 2013, however they had to call for re-tendering several times. "The BMC cannot allege that the project was delayed due to petitions and protests. Despite all our efforts of trying to tell them to stop the proposed destruction, they were adamant. Had this project been transparent, properly planned and consulted experts at the outset itself there would have never been a petition filed in the first place nor any delays," said an activist stating that later on the zoo worked closely with the Save Rani Baug Committee during the planning stage. In 2016 the first phase of the work on the makeover finally began including procuring the penguins as work kept getting stuck amidst political rows where allegations of flouting rules during the tender process and choosing a tainted contractor began. However, now the officials from Zoo are confident that November 2019 will see the resurrection of the zoo as many of the animals including leopards, jackal, sloth bear will be shifted to their state-of-the-art enclosures, which will become the talking point of Mumbai. "By July 2020 we expect all the work under the phase two of the revamp that includes setting up of 17 enclosures to be completed and we will have lions, tigers, walk-in bird aviaries and other attraction ready for tourists," said an official from Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Zoo.

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