PATNA: Among the most visited tourist spots in Bihar, Rajgir will soon have an added attraction for visitors — a zoo safari in the hills.
One of CM Nitish Kumar’s pet projects, the first-of-its-kind zoo safari in the state got the Central Zoo Authority’s nod on Monday. The CZA, which is headed by Union environment and forests minister Prakash Javadekar, had already given the technical clearance on November 19.
Javadekar posted a tweet on Monday announcing that Rajgir Zoo Safari in Nalanda and Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur have got CZA permission.
The CM had visited Rajgir on November 30 to take stock of the progress of various projects, including the zoo safari and a new ropeway. He had said the work on zoo safari is progressing at a fast pace and will be ready soon.
Dipak Kumar Singh, the state environment, forest and climate change additional chief secretary, said a CZA team inspected the site in October this year and in November it submitted the report to the technical committee of CZA.
“On November 19, we got the nod from the technical committee, and on Monday, we got the recognition from the governing body. Very soon this zoo safari will be made fully functional,” Singh said.
He informed that for a zoo to become functional, approval from the CZA is a must in three different fields —design and layout, permission as a zoo and permission for animal exchange. “We have got the nod in first two categories, and very soon we expect the go-ahead for animal exchange too,” Singh said.
He further said the animal transfers would not take much effort as most of the animals will be shifted from Patna Zoo, barring a few from other zoos as part of the animal exchange programme. Officials said the construction work of this zoo safari spread over 480 acres is complete and its estimated cost is Rs 177 crore. This first-of-its-kind zoo safari in the state will have huge enclosures for animals to give them the feeling of being in a forest. Visitors, on the other hand, will be in closed vehicles.
A total of five such enclosures spread over 50 to 80 acres are ready. While one of the paddocks will have herbivores, others will have leopards, tiger and lions. Apart from animal enclosures, there will be a butterfly garden and an aviary with varieties of birds.