Much-delayed Byculla zoo revamp plan to be sent for CZA approval
Almost five years after the revamp of the Byculla Zoo was proposed and around nine months after it was given in-principle approval by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), a fresh masterplan for the zoo layout will be submitted on Friday to the CZA for final approval.
We had been asked to make some minor changes which we have made and will now submit the layout plan for approval to the CZA on August 24, said Aseem Gupta, Assistant Municipal Commissioner(AMC), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC).
The layout plan had received in-principle approval in November last year but the CZA wanted minor modifications before final approval was sought. The minor modifications then proposed included specifying scientific names of civet cat species, shifting otters from the cat group to near the porcupine enclosure where it would be part of a separate World of Water Animals area and marking certain visitor paths in the masterplan.
After these modifications were made, the CZA sought some more changes. After we made the changes proposed in November, CZA communicated some more changes in March-April pertaining to shifting location of some enclosures. The CZA member secretary visited the zoo in July and suggested some minor, technical changes. Now, all the changes have been incorporated in the plan, said a senior zoo official.
Meanwhile, the design plan that has details of each enclosure keeping in mind the animals natural habitat, the design of roads, an education plan for visitors, a disaster management plan, besides security and e-governance will be ready soon.
We are almost done with the designing. Only minor things are left but the CZA has asked us to submit the layout plan first and after its approval, send the design plan, said the official.
This final leg of approval process comes almost five years after the revamp plan was proposed in 2007. Initially, facing opposition from various groups who said there could be a possible loss in the zoos garden area and its heritage structures could be compromised, the CZA had given the much-revised plan its conditional approval in 2009.
The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee and other groups had opposed it and the plan was rejected in May 2011. The BMC was then asked to make a fresh masterplan based on CZA guidelines.