Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The ambitious Safari Park, which is being developed with the Smart City fund of Rs 167 crore and is expected to attract 10 lakh tourists annually, now faces an issue with its revised city development plan. A crematorium has been planned right at the entrance of this major tourist attraction.
In the 100-acre Safari Park project, a 30-metre-wide road is planned to run alongside it. However, the proposal includes a crematorium, followed by parking and a vegetable market. Initially, the area was reserved for a park, but later on, it has been adjusted.
Although the park itself has 8 acres of land reserved for parking, an additional parking facility has been proposed far from the entrance. Furthermore, despite there being two vegetable markets within 300 metres, another vegetable market has been proposed, which seems unnecessary.
Park is the biggest project being developed under the Smart City Mission but seems to be a zero-planning proposal. Hence this ill-conceived proposal needs to be rejected. Considering the project’s nearness to important tourist places like the Ellora Caves, Daulatabad Fort, and Khuldabad, it should be developed as a "Special Tourism Development Area." To address this, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar First, in collaboration with the Urban Research Foundation, will propose an appropriate solution soon.