Gujarat: Indroda zoo lion pair kept in ‘purdah’

AHMEDABAD: It’s been 35 days since a lion pair was brought from Sakarbaug in Junagadh to Indroda zoo in Gandhinagar by GEER Foundation. Ever since these apex predators arrived, they have been kept under strict ‘purdah’ (behind curtains) which will continue till the state environment minister turns up for the inauguration. The zoo is barely 4km from the environment minister’s office and that’s just a six-minute ride.
Every day, hundreds of visitors to the Indroda park are turned away from this specially designed lion enclosure — now wrapped in green curtains. Behind these curtains are 10-year-old lion Sutra and 8-year-old Greeva.

Curious visitors who tried to peek through small gaps in the curtains were asked to leave by forest beat guards posted near the enclosure. They claimed that the ‘purdah’ will remain until the forest minister finds time to inaugurate the enclosure.

It is after 16 years that Indroda zoo has got a lion pair. The Kankaria zoo in Ahmedabad has two lionesses — Janki, 14, and Shreya, 5, and a 14-year-old lion, Ambar.

When asked why the lions are still behind curtains, a senior forest official said, “The schedules of two ministers, Ganpat Vasava and minister of state (MoS) Ramanlal Patkar, additional chief secretary Rajiv Gupta, and principal CCF, wildlife, A K Saxena could not be aligned and the inauguration was delayed.” He added, “Though not confirmed, the enclosure may get inaugurated by Tuesday next week.”

The required approval from the central zoo authority (CZA) for a lion pair had come in 2017, but owing to delays at the chief minister’s office, the file got clearance only in April 2018. “The first proposal for a lion pair at Indroda was made to the CZA in 2010. The proposal lapsed as there was no follow up. Another proposal was placed in 2016, for which the CZA approval was received in 2017,” said the forest official. Indroda zoo currently has a leopard and around 300 chitals, sambhars, blackbuck and chinkaras. “The last big cat in Indroda zoo was 18-year-old Gaurav, who died in 2013,” said the official.