Vandalur zoo to start night safari

Vandalur zoo to start night safari

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai:23.02.2021 

Vandalur zoo is planningtostart a nightsafari on a portion of the reserve forest near the rescue and rehabilitation centre on Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road. A proposal sent to the government has been accepted and the zoo management is all set to scout for funds.

A senior wildlife official said when chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami visited the zoo in August 2019, a meeting was held to start the night safari. Last January, the chief minister, in his reply to the governor’s address in the assembly, had announced that infrastructure at the zoo would be upgraded. In September 2020, another meeting was held where it was decided that the safari will be developed as a public private partnership. Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation Limited (TNIFMC) will lay down norms to get funds, the official said. An in-house team will be formed under TNIFMC to oversee the project.

Principal chief conservator of forests and head of the forest department S Yuvaraj told TOI that the department had prepared a concept note on the night safari and had sent it to the government.

“The government has accepted it and will take steps to establish the new facility,” he said.

A senior wildlife official said a night safari was mooted 14 years ago. In 2009, the government had sanctioned ₹156 crore for a safari zone and another ₹36 crore for an entertainment zone, which would have included an amphitheatre, recreation centre and an interpretation centre.

With the funds released in 2010, work on the night safari began. The zoo authorities laid a circular road, which was designed by the structural engineering division of Anna University’s civil engineering department. They completed construction of enclosures for tigers, elephants, Indian gaur, spotted deer, sloth bear and sambar. However, the project could not take off as the next government shelved it. Another proposal for the night safari was submitted after reducing the cost to ₹82 crore in August 2011. But itwas rejected, a retiredzooofficial said.

IN THE DARK: The zoo, now shut at 5pm, will soon be open at night