Coimbatore Corporation will initiate efforts to retain the zoo within the city limits, and, if possible, shift it to the prison grounds, which is closer to the present zoo premises, said Mayor S.M. Velusamy.
Responding to councillors’ demands during Monday’s Council meeting, he said that the Corporation was not interested in getting nine acres of prison grounds for the proposed integrated bus stand from the Home Department and cash for the remaining 44.14 acres in lieu of the land it had given in Vellalore for setting up a battalion of Rapid Action Force of the Central Reserve Police Force.
The Corporation wanted only land and that should be equal in extent to the 53.17 acres the Corporation had given in Vellalore. With the land the Corporation would be able to establish not only a bus stand but also shift the park, which in the present set up near VOC Park was short of space.
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Mr. Velusamy reasoned that there was no point in the Corporation trying to establish a zoo outside the city because it would serve no purpose.
His stand found immediate support from even Opposition councillors. Ward 49 Councillor representing the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Meena Loganathan said if the Corporation were to get the zoo shifted to the prison grounds, it would be of immense benefit to the public, who would have very access because of the bus stand being in the vicinity.
Many other Councillors wanted the Mayor and the Commissioner T.K. Ponnusamy to follow-up the matter in right earnest with the Government.
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The Corporation for a long time had been trying to shift the zoo shifted, for with just 4.61 acres it is finding it difficult to protect the animals and provide convenience to the visitors. It proposed a couple of places to the Central Zoo Authority but the latter shot down the proposals citing they did not fit the norms.
The Corporation Zoo has 26 reptiles, 85 mammals and 219 birds.