An eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl accompanied by their grandmother with great enthusiasm to the Government Aquarium. However, their outing became disappointing just a few minutes after entering the aquarium.
Pointing out at a school of onion-pink fish, they asked their grandmother what kind of fish it was. She could not answer as several tanks did not have sign boards to inform visitors about the variety of fish and their origin.
Another visitor Nadia Farahani, a tourist from Italy, was upset to find the aquarium poorly maintained. She said that the fish tanks seemed crowded with fish.
The aquarium, which was officially inaugurated in 1983, appears to be losing sheen due to lack of maintenance. Besides the absence of nameplates on some tanks, the water in some of the tanks is not changed regularly and appears dirty. The aquarium also has only fresh water fish, as it lacks the infrastructure to set up separate tanks for marine fish.
Although there was a minor renovation in March 2011, the government has made no move to improve the aquarium. Officials in the aquarium, however, say that as the aquarium in Cubbon Park comes under the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975, there is no provision for construction of a new building.
Question raised
Recently, an un-starred question regarding the status of the aquarium was raised in the council by Ramachandra Gowda, MLC. In the reply, the government has stated that 75 fish had died over the past three months, which was attributed to fluctuations in weather, diseases and the short life span of fish.
However, an official working in the aquarium admitted that poor maintenance of tanks was one of primary reasons for fish dying.