Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, Mar 14: Roars, trumpets and all wild voices will fill airs of Jammu as the much awaited Zoo in city outskirts will be thrown open to public after some months as work on it is in full swing at present.
“The approved phase one of Jambu Zoo at Nagrota will be completed by November this year after which the Zoo will be thrown open to the public,” Chief Wildlife Warden J&K, Suresh Kumar Gupta told Excelsior.
“Success of the first phase will usher the second phase and that will be the final phase of the project,” Gupta said.
“Zoo is a continuous process and even after the completion of two phases improvements will continue further,” he said adding: “Initially herbivorous animals like spotted deer, Sambar, Neel Gai, barking deer (Padda), black bug along with leopard, black bear, sloth bear, tiger etc mostly found in plain areas will be kept in enclosures (big cages for animals in the zoo) while for birds there will be walk through aviary in which the visitors may walk and the birds will be kept free in it (aviary). These aviaries here will be the biggest in India.”
The Chief Wildlife Warden also said that Jambu Zoo is coming up satisfying all the established standards of Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI)—an organisation which regulates all the zoos in the country.
“The present work on Jambu Zoo is also going on maintaining international standards as per the approval by Central Zoo Authority,” he said adding: “Mostly zoos in India are in plain areas like Delhi, Mysore, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Hyderabad but Jambu Zoo will be a hilly area zoo like the one in Darjeeling and it will be a Zoo of special type due to the hilly terrain here.”
“We already have CZAI registered two mini-zoos in J&K—one at Pahalgam and another at Manda but Jambu Zoo will be a unique one and Manda Zoo will merge in it,” Gupta informed claiming that it will be the only full-fledged Zoo of J&K.
He said that after completion of phase two, Jambu Zoo will be one of the biggest zoos in North India.
The top Wildlife Officer of J&K informed that maintenance and administration of Jambu Zoo will be done by J&K Wildlife Department while ticketing, cafeteria, trekking and other public facilities etc will be outsourced.
“Cycle and battery operated vehicle facility for the visitors to move inside the Zoo premises and trekking round of five km will be among some facilities which a visitor can avail in the Zoo while zipline swing has also been approved by CZAI for Jambu Zoo as an adventurous item,” Gupta maintained.
(In zipline facility a wire is hung from top to bottom and the willing people to enjoy the swing put a special jacket tied with the cable through which they enjoy a long swing to come down).
“Zipline will be the special feature of this Zoo and this will exclusively be available at this place only in J&K,” the Chief Wildlife Warden said.
On other facilities at the Zoo he said that there will be three parks with seating arrangements and other facilities, a round shaped cafeteria, Nature Interpretation Centre having facilities to show movies to the children along with many other exhibits, good parking facility, veterinary hospital for treatment of animals, staff quarters for staff engaged in maintaining the Zoo etc.
“A Zoo Director will head the administration of Jambu Zoo and he will be a DFO rank Forest Officer,” Gupta maintained.
Presently Wildlife Warden Amit Sharma who is of DFO rank is supervising the ongoing work of the Zoo.
When contacted, Amit Sharma said a budget of Rs 62.41 crore has been allotted by the Government for completion of phase one of the Zoo.
“Most of the tendering process for the work has been completed and payments also made to most of the contractors so that the work may be complete within stipulated time for the first phase of the project,” Sharma informed.
“The Zoo will be visited by the people who wish to see wildlife. Apart from this, it can also be a place of breeding endangeral species,” he said adding that the Zoo will be technology based as one may download the App of the Zoo after which one will get details of the animal inside the enclosure where one visits.
He also said that entry to the Zoo will be by tickets which will also be available online.
“Concertina wire will be installed all around the Zoo premises and private security guards will man its security apart from Forest Guards,” Sharma said.
It is pertinent to mention here that stone for Jambu Zoo was laid in the year 2016 by the then Forest Minister, Chowdhary Lal Singh at Khanpur area of Nagrota, 15 kilometers from here.
The Zoo will be spread over sprawling 162 hectare of land and will add to the fun of children, picnickers and others.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
