Ludhiana Zoo gets funds

District forest officer Naresh Mahajan said,“Once the boundary wall is contstructed we can go ahead with many other projects for developing this zoo. The security of animals was the most important.”

The zoo had also been facing severe water shortage as a result of which many animals in the enclosure did not have access to adequate drinking water supply. Earlier only two 10,000 litres of water tanks were available Mahajan said,“We have got one sub-mersible pump bore installed within the zoo to solve the water shortage. Now the animals will have adequate drinking water.”

Although the zoo is seeing the start of new projects a lack of a back up generator set and no search lights for the staff at night hours are still posing a problem for the zoo.

Mahajan assured that he is taking up the issues one by one and will be able to solve all the problems of the zoo soon.

The plan project — sent by the department more than three years ago — had plans to add more animals to the zoo including a tiger. However nothing has been done regarding this issue so far. Mahajan added that many new changes will be seen after the completion of the wall.

Forest minister Surjit Kumar Jayani said that a lot needs to be done to revamp the Wild Life department. Meanwhile Dr Sandeep Jain,from care for animals and protection of environment has welcomed the new additions. He said,“We have been demanding these improvements for a long time.”