Machhli Ghar, the fish-shaped aquarium in the heart of city, then an iconic structure and hot spot was bulldozed giving way to convention centre on the site. The authorities had then shifted the fish aquarium to a temporary building assuring that soon a permanent beautiful structure would take shape to house the exotic, ornamental and fresh water fishes. Four years on, the aquarium is still running in the same makeshift building on Bhadbhada road.
Situated near the Raj-Bhavan and old assembly hall, the aquarium was razed down for developing convention center on its site. While shifting the aquarium to temporary building in February 2015, the fishery department had sought Rs 30 crore and four acre area to develop modern fish aquarium.
Lack of administrative will and the shortage of funds are coming in way of developing a new fish aquarium. The number of footfall to the existing fish aquarium has come down to 75 per cent. The old Macchli Ghar, had around 1 lakh visitors every year, the number today has come down to 25000. Many reasons are attributed to dwindling visitors to the aquarium, lack of proper conveyance being one. The existing aquarium spread in 1 acre area – the original plan is to develop it in 4 acre area- is running in very unimpressive structure located in far off area, not connected through public transport.
There is not bus connectivity to the area and only one can go there by taxi or on a private vehicle. One has to walk 500 meters to get to the aquarium. The new proposed 4 acre campus, two separate floors for fish aquarium, a meeting hall, office space, garden and parking area is to come up. When, however is the big question. OP Saxena, director of Macchli Ghar, however sounds optimistic. The number of footfalls would increase to 2 lakh if we start operating in new building, said Saxena. The new building would be used for to keep additional fishes as the current aquarium is not able to house all the species, he added.