The city zoo and museum are facing a strange situation.
Located on the same 55-acre campus, the zoo and the museum which come under a unified department are being administered by two Ministers in the current Left Democratic Front government — zoo by K. Raju and museum by Kadannappally Ramachandran. There are two Secretaries as well.
The move has thrown up administrative hurdles. Appointments in both the zoo and the museum are governed by the same set of special rules, and transfer of staff between the two is usual. “Decisions may hang fire if the officials or Ministers do not agree,” department officials who do not wish to be named said. With common allocation of funds, how the money will be split between the zoo and the museum is another grey area. “The museum was thrown open to the public in 1857, but when it failed to attract enough people, a zoo and a park were set up two years later. The zoo and museum continue to function on the same lines even today,” a department official said.
In Thrissur
Besides the zoo and museum here, the State Museum and Zoo in Thrissur too are located on one campus. There are also concerns that the department will be split into two, and amalgamated with other departments, with the zoo merged with the Forest Department.
Former Minister M.A. Baby who held charge of the zoo in the previous LDF government said the Forest Minister was given additional charge of zoo as both zoo and forest were inter-related. Moreover, the zoo at Thrissur was being shifter to a Forest Department land in Puthur. “The Forest Minister will be able to focus on the affairs of the zoo better.”
Administrative matters could be sorted out by holding a joint meeting of the Ministers and the Secretaries concerned, Mr. Baby said. “We should give it time and see how it goes.” A department official, however, said conservation requirements in forests and zoos were entirely different, and the zoo may end up neglected. A retired Zoo and Museum director said it was important to have Ministers well-versed and interested in the functioning of the zoo. “The decline over the years as a result of Ministers’ disinterest is visible,” he said.
