Inauguration of Nahargarh Zoological Park

Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje has said that Nahargarh Zoological Park may have a lion or tiger safari in near future. Possibilities are being explored to start this safari, she said.

On the eve of World Environment Day, Smt. Raje was addressing the inaugural ceremony of Nahargarh Zoological Park on Saturday. She said a new chapter was added to the tourism of Jaipur which would give a new sensation to the tourists.

The Chief Minister said that old Jaipur Zoo, which came in existence in 1876, was probably the first of its kind in these parts. But, with increasing population, pollution and noise levels had gone up and animals housed in the old Zoo had to bear the brunt. She said that Nahargarh Zoological Park was developed in 80 hectares area to save the animals from pollution and noise. At new place comfort of animals would increase as they would be housed in much larger enclosures to live freely, she said.

Smt. Raje directed the officials to develop a butterfly garden to increase beauty of the zoological park and further asked to transfer aviary at Ramniwas Bagh to this place. This would result in increasing footfall of tourists who wish to see wildlife animals and birds together at one place. She said developing of kid’s corner in the Park was also a welcoming step where the little ones would have loads of fun.

The Chief Minister said said that the endangered species of wild animals would be re-populated in their respective habitats after captive breeding. She said that internship programmes should be started at all zoos in the state where research facilities were made available for conservation of endangered animals. She said that for this park, lions were relocated from Junagarh in Gujarat and Banerghetta in Karnataka; white tiger from Delhi, crocodiles and panthers from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and sloth bear from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. She said that number of displayed animals be increased in this park so that the tourists stay time remained high.

During the visit Smt. Raje also saw a baby panther and baby hyena. Both were separated from their mothers and now they live together in the park. Smt. Raje closely watched wild animals during the visit and suggested that there should be a fan club for the wild life of the zoological park.

The Chief Minister looked emotional when she saw the lonely Himalayan black beer in the park. She asked officials to bring his partner so that the beer does not feel lonely. She said during her Machia visit she had seen a beer. She suggested that the beer of Machia can be relocated here. She said we must understand the feelings of these animals who can not express their feelings to us.

MLA Shri Mohan Lal Gupta, Shri Surendra Pareek, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Shri SS Chaudhari, Chief Wildlife Warden Shri GV Reddy, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Jaipur Zoo) Smt. Aakanksha Chaudhari, Additional Chief Secretary Forest & Environment Shri NC Goyal and JDC Shri Shikhar Agarwal, Divisional Commissioner Shri Rajeshwar Singh and Collector Siddharth Mahajan were also present on this occasion among others.

Jaipur, 4 June 2016