Zoo sees huge demand for battery-run vehicles

Bahadurpura: Heavy influx of visitors at Nehru Zoological Park on weekends has increased the demand for Battery Operated Vehicles (BOVs). The non-availability of the vehicle is causing inconvenience to users, especially to senior citizens.

Even though Zoo authorities regularly adding new vehicles to the existing fleet and hiked the prices in April to Rs 80 (weekends & holidays), the demand for vehicles that provide easy access to specific locations has been steadily increasing.

On Sunday, the Zoo Park received heavy footfalls owing to various reasons, including long weekend of Ganesh Chaturthi. The total number of visitors was estimated to be 13,000. The situation turned uncontrollable at the long lines waiting to get BOVs. The rain added to the troubles of the visitors.

"We have waited for hours, but have failed to get the BOV. We haven't got vehicle. We have finally decided to switch out the program and returned to home," said a visitor.

Presently, the Zoo Park has 48 BOVs. Of which, 44 are 10-seaters, while the remaining 4 are 14-seaters. The authorities charge Rs 70 for adults and Rs 40 for children to allow them prowl on the premises through the BOV. However, in weekdays the rate shoots up by Rs 10 per head.

Besides, the authorities charge Rs 2,000 for arranging a 10-seater BOV on demand for a single family for 2 hours, while for 14-seater, they charge almost Rs 3,000 for the same duration.

Zoo Park was established on a peripheral area of 380 acres, encompassing Bahadurpura, Kishan Bagh and Rajendranagar in its surroundings. While the outer circle in the Zoo Park consists of 3 km, the inner area covers almost 2 km of plush green land. Together, the visitors have to walk almost 5 km if they really want to have a glimpse of wildlife features the Zoo Park has on its premises, including different enclosures that have facilitates the wild inhabitants of various species.

The authorities devised an idea of introducing BOVs in the Zoo Park to facilitate the visitors, especially senior citizens, so as to help them enjoy, as many visitors not able to reach the enclosures located far end in the sanctuary. However, this idea materialized only a few years ago, when new battery operated vehicles were introduced.

"Generally the average footfall is somewhere 3,000 to 4,000 per day. However on weekdays and festive days, the influx shoots up to over 10,000 to 30,000 in a single day, bursting at the seams the entire open area inside the premises," said N Kshitija IFS, curator at Nehru Zoological Park.

"We are planning to procure new BOVs this financial year. There are two circles in the zoo -- outer periphery and the inner circle. The BOVs ply on the outer periphery with "Hop On and Hop off System," wherein visitors have to get down at one stop, have a look of animals surrounding and get back to the same point and can board any BOV to proceed to the next point," she informed.