BMCs zoo makeover plan hits a green roadblock
The civic bodys ambitious plan of redeveloping the Veermata Jijabai Bhonsale Udyan, Byculla, received a setback after the Environment Secretary expressed concerns about it. Speaking at a roundtable organised by the Observer Research Foundation on preserving urban open and green spaces for public health, Valsa Nair-Singh said, The government will never allow any redevelopment project that will replace an area of green cover with a concrete jungle. Any proposed redevelopment project should focus on increasing green cover instead of removing it.
Environmentalists present at the roundtable opposed redevelopment of open spaces stating that such projects are costly and deplete resources.
Hutokshi Rustofram from the Save Rani Bagh Committee said the BMCs Byculla zoo makeover plan will cause Mumbais largest open green space to lose its charm. The place was started in 1861 as a botanical garden and a small zoo was added 12 years later. Till date, 62 per cent of the total area comprises botanical garden and animal enclosures constitute only 18 per cent of the space. If the BMC wants to build more enclosures and bring in more exotic animals from other countries how it will manage to do so without destroying the existing green cover, asked Rustofram.
The civic body had proposed a Rs 450-crore makeover plan for the zoo in 2007. Work on phase one of the plan has already begun and the 2010-11 budget of the civic body sanctioned Rs 192 crore it. The Central Zoo Authority and the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee has maintained that the proposal wont be passed unless the civic body assures them that not a single tree, of the over 3,000 trees of 2,600 species, will be uprooted.
Participants also discussed the depleting open spaces in the city. Pankaj Joshi of the Urban Development and Research Institute said, Only 6 per cent of the total land in the city is reserved as open public spaces. Out of this 45 per cent is partially or completely encroached upon. A citizen of Mumbai gets 1.95 square metre of open space against the international standard of 11 square metre per person. Civic officials are always under pressure from political parties to not remove encroachments, said Joshi.