Construction of 4-km long compound wall gains momentum at Safari Park

Aurangabad, July 30:

The construction of a four-km long and 12 feet height compound wall to protect the 100 acres of land for Wildlife Safari Park at Mitmita has gained momentum recently. The Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) will be funding Rs 11 crore for the task under the Smart City Mission.

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) zoo at Siddharth Garden will be shifted to the above new site. Earlier, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has raised objections stating there is a dearth of adequate space in the AMC zoo for the animals. It had recommended shifting of the wildlife animals at a spacious place on priority. Later on, a Delhi-based project management consultant (PMC) headed by a retired director of Delhi Zoo, B R Sharma, was appointed to prepare the Master Plan. The CZA approved the Master Plan prepared by the PMC after ensuring that the shortcomings it had mentioned were corrected. In the meantime, the AMC got possession of 100 acres of land bearing Gut Number 309 from revenue administration.

Meanwhile, the AMC is demanding for additional 58 hectares of land for expansion of the park. The additional land will enable to spare adequate space for the development of natural habitats for wildlife animals. The AMC-ASCDCL will be submitting the proposal in the first week of August. As reported earlier, the ASCDCL will be spending Rs 147 crore under Smart City Mission. The civic body is of opinion that it would be able to make adequate arrangements for more facilities if the state government also grants some funds for the project.

It may be noted that the completion of the park will be done in three phases. The first phase of work comprises levelling 100 acres of land and construction of the compound wall upon it. According to sources, " the construction of 4250 metres long compound wall and levelling of land is also going on simultaneously. The cement concrete wall will also have barbered wire fencing upon it. The construction of wall up to 1-km has been completed, so far. The work will be completed in 15 months."