WITH OVER 53,000 people visiting the Rajkot Zoological Park (RZP), popularly known as the Pradyuman Park, in December, the total number of visitors so far this fiscal crossed five lakh mark generating a revenue of over Rs 1.4 crore. As many as 53,086 visitors visited the zoo during the last month of calendar year 2022, an official release from the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), which runs the zoo, said on Monday. They include 9,833 students of various schools and colleges on study tours, the release further said. The numbers this December are higher as compared to 44,073 visitors recorded in December 2021. Overall, 5,36,963 visitors visited the park till end of December, generating Rs1.40 crore revenue for the civic body. The highest number of visitors recorded in a full year so far is around seven lakh, zoo officers said. The zoo collected Rs 13.10 lakh in form of entry fees and fares of electric cars which take visitors on tours of the park in December 2022. The revenue in December 2021 was Rs12.03 lakh, the release issued jointly by Rajkot Mayor Pradip Dav, standing committee chairman Pushkar Patel and zoo committee chairman Anita Goswami further said. “Overall, the visitor numbers have been higher as 2020-21 and 2021-22 were Covid-19 pandemic years. However, since the summer of 2022, people started visiting the park in big numbers, especially during vacations and festivals,” Rakesh Hirapara, superintendent of the RZP said. Entry fee for Pradyuman Park is Rs 25 for adults and Rs 10 for children up to 12 years of age. However, the zoo offers 50 per cent concession in entry tickets to students on study tours. Entry fee for teachers accompanying students on study tours is also Rs 5 only, the release said. “Normally, average 5,000 people visit the zoo on Sundays and on festival days,” the release added but Hirapara said that on the New Year day on Sunday, 8,431 people visited the park, generating 19.93 lakh revenue. In the nine months of the current fiscal, this is the fifth highest number of footfalls in a month. In August, more than 1.10 lakh people had visited the park, generating 28.80 lakh revenue. It was followed by October (97,460 visitors and Rs 25.27 lakh revenue), May (67,815 visitors and 17.96 lakh revenue) and June (53,637 visitors and 14.31 lakh revenue). Presently, 521 animals and birds of 80 species are on display in the zoo, the release added.
