Lush green surroundings and a rich biodiversity draw picnickers in hordes to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) every year as ‘Karthika Masam’ sets in. This year too, Vizag zoo is expecting is a good turnout of visitors. With 152 species of animals numbering to 1,195 which includes birds, butterflies and exotic species like chimpanzee and giraffe presently housed in the zoo, IGZP has made a remarkable turnaround after the catastrophic effect of Cyclone Hudhud in 2014.
Last financial year, the zoo recorded an all-time high of 8.55 lakh visitors with Karthika Masam contributing to over 40 % of the total visitor turnout.
While on normal days, the zoo receives 1,500 visitors, during the picnic season the figure swells up to 20,000, especially during holidays.
“Last year, the highest number of visitors recorded on a day was 28,000 during this period. On Sunday, which was the first weekend of ‘Karthika Masam’ we recorded more than 5,000 visitors at the zoo. We are expecting the numbers to touch 20,000 by the following weekends, when the picnickers usually come in larger numbers,” zoo curator B. Vijay Kumar told The Hindu .
The zoo authorities have made all possible arrangements to receive the visitors during the weekend and to ensure safety of animals and the visitors as well as to keep the zoo premises litter-free.
To meet the requirements of the heavy crowd, three new awning sheds have been placed in addition to 18 visitor shelters. One RO water plant of 1,000 litre capacity and another of 500 litre capacity apart from eight RO plants are in place to cater to the needs of the visitors.
This apart, the zoo has 10 e-rickshaws, two battery operated vehicles, public WiFi, first aid facility, 31 drinking water facility taps, 40 dustbins, 60 benches and eight toilets.
“In anticipation of a large turnout of visitors during this period, we have made arrangements for additional parking space inside the zoo. In order to keep the surroundings safe and clean, extra security personnel have been deployed and we are reaching out to zoo volunteers and NGOs to help in manning the crowd, especially during weekends. We have also provided signage for visitors to keep the premises litter-free,” Mr Kumar said. As part of its ‘green’ initiatives, a fee of Rs 10 will be collected from visitors against each plastic bottle with a sticker pasted on it, which will be refunded at the exit gate on returning the bottle. “We have also written to traffic police to deploy guards at both the zoo gates and also requested APSRTC to ply more buses in this route to cater to the crowd,” he added.
To streamline the flow of visitors within the zoo premises, a one-way traffic system is put in place. The zoo officials have also written to the District Medical Health Officer to provide two health camps near both the gates of the zoo park.
