Heritage panel picks holes in BMC’s Byculla zoo makeover plan

The issue was discussed at the MHCC meeting Tuesday, when former municipal commissioner Sharad Kale and former chief secretary D M Sukhtankar, along with the Save Rani Baug Botanial Garden Foundation (SRBBGF), were called for the hearing on the BMC’s new Master Plan.

“We have been informed that the walls that were constructed last year have not yet been removed despite MHCC notices issued to the BMC,” V Ranganathan, MHCC chairman, said. “We have written to the corporation again now asking them to dismantle any such structures and to include these variations in a detailed compliance report of how the new plan adheres to MHCC’s guidelines. Based on their response we will see if their zoo revamp plan can be given approval,” he added.

The committee has also asked the corporation to abandon plans for fountains and seating shelters. “It will be more than enough that they merely improve on the existing structures, such as renovating the old toilets rather than installing new ones. The main objective should be to preserve the green space,” Ranganathan said.

Rani Baug, covering 53 acres, is currently both a botanical garden and zoo. It was built in 1861 by Agri-horticultural Society of Western India as a public botanical garden. Around 1880, 15 acres were added to the plot and a small zoo was created for holding a few animals. The botanical garden portion has 3,213 trees of 286 species, and over 850 species of smaller plants.

In 2007, the BMC envisaged a master plan to revamp the zoo. The project, estimated to cost Rs 443 crore, has been criticised for its construction-heavy features and interventionist plans to convert the island city’s largest green lung into an international zoo-and-amusement park.

In 2011, the MHCC, then under the chairmanship of Dinesh Afzalpurkar, after three hearings and a report from a sub-committee of heritage experts rejected the corporation’s master plan and issued a set of directions to follow in re-designing the zoo. The guidelines primarily stated that the area and the number of animal enclosures in the zoo must not be increased, special care must be taken to preserve the botanical garden and public access must continue.

In 2013, the new heritage committee conducted a site visit and found walls under construction in various parts of Rani Baug. Directives were issued to the BMC to demolish the walls.

Additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas, in-charge of the Byculla Zoo and Gardens department, declined to comment on the issue. “I will have to do a check on the zoo to see if the structures have been removed yet or not,” he said. Hutokshi Rustomfram, trustee of the SRBBGF said, “Construction of these large brick walls fragment the green space of Rani Baug mar the botanical garden’s heritage and aesthetic value. The revised master plan involves a lot of construction activity which can be a major threat to the garden’s health and existence.”

“Moreover, the BMC has not paid attention to the directions of the previous committee as the areas for the animal enclosures exceed the current space allocations by more than 15,000 square metres,”he added.

alison.saldanha@expressindia.com