MUMBAI: Almost a year after shutting its gates to visitors, Veermata Jijabai BhosaleUdyan and zoo, popularly known as Byculla zoo, is likely to start operations next week, from February 15.
It had restricted entry to visitors on March 15 last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the garden and zoo reopens, visitors will, for the first time, also get a glimpse of the two Royal Bengal tigers named Shakti and Karishma, who were brought from Siddharth Garden and Zoo in Aurangabad city last February and kept in quarantine. They were to be put up for public viewing on March 25, 2020 but the zoo restricted entry to public a week before. The zoo authorities have created a specialized underwater viewing facility for visitors to get a glimpse of the tigers.
A senior civic official said that an official proposal to re-open the zoo has been tabled before the BMC chief and awaits a nod. “We plan to reopen the zoo taking into consideration all the Covid-19 precautionary measures like social distancing to be maintained, sanitizers to be placed at various spots on the premises and dustbins for disposal of masks and sanitizers,” the official said, adding that the zoo has 5,000-6,000 visitors on a regular day while on weekends crowds touch up to 15,000. However, in the current scenario, authorities said that in case crowds on the zoo premises rise, they will shut gates for a while and open only once the crowds within reduce. The aviary which has a walkthrough within is expected to remain shut so that visitors are not in close contact.
With the zoo shut for a year, authorities said a loss of Rs 5 crore has been incurred. Currently, an adult visitor to the zoo has to shell out Rs 50 while a child is charged Rs 25. School picnics have been a part of outings at the zoo. Recently, zoo authorities held a virtual picnic for students of Saraswati Vidyalaya High School, Thane. Students and their parents could get a glimpse of the entire zoo.