The city zoo will get three more battery-operated vehicles soon. Zoo Director K. Gangadharan said two eight-seater vehicles and one four-seater were expected to arrive by the end of the month.
The zoo already has two 14-seater battery-operated vehicles and two eight-seaters. The order for the new vehicles was placed with Kerala Automobiles in March. The eight-seaters will cost Rs.8,20,000 each and the four-seaters Rs.5,70,000.
With the zoo seeing large crowds during the school vacation, the new battery-operated vehicles will make a visit to the 55-acre premises easier, especially in daytime when the sun beats down relentlessly. Children, the elderly, and the physically challenged will find it easy to negotiate the scores of pathways without exerting themselves much.
Mr. Gangadharan said the vehicles were expected earlier this month, but got delayed. The zoo is currently operating the four vehicles purchased from the Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) in 2013. From April 14 to April 18, the four vehicles had raked in a total revenue of Rs.46,440.
Their frequent breakdown, however, poses a problem. Zoo sources said the vehicles ran fine till 2015. Two months ago, the vehicles had been repaired at a cost of Rs.2.5 lakh, but they again broke down a week or two ago and needed repairs that came to Rs.1 lakh. The repairs, conducted by a Chennai-based firm, took a lot of time, leading to loss of revenue. They said that there was a move to purchase the new vehicles directly from SIDCO, but the department working group had shot this down, and asked the authorities to float a tender. Mr. Gangadharan said a Haryana-based firm had quoted the lowest bid but it was decided to award the contract to Kerala Automobiles to avoid delay in maintenance.
Order placed with Kerala Automobiles in March
Zoo has four vehicles purchased from SIDCO
