Wild plan: BMC thinks people inside cages will help zoo revamp

Activists,experts and the heritage panel have all said that the garden,which has historically been used by 50 Mumbai colleges for botany study,will then be subsumed by a concretised zoo.

In a recent letter to the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC),Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta stated that if any rare or endangered tree species come within the proposed enclosures,the same species will be planted at a more publicly accessible site. The letter,which has created quite a stir among committee members,further states: “Also,during the weekly closure of the zoo,when the animals will be in their respective holding cages,students interested in botanical studies may be allowed inside the enclosures.”

In May 2010,the MHCC had rejected the BMC’s four-year-old zoo modernisation plan and asked it to draft a fresh proposal that improves the condition of the existing animal enclosures and preserves the botanical garden as it exists now. “With 823 plant species,it is a living laboratory for nature lovers. The ill-conceived proposal,which envisages construction on a big scale,will lead to 48 per cent of the garden being occupied by cages. This whimsical suggestion of letting people inside cages seems to have come as a knee-jerk reaction to circumvent MHCC’s objections,” said a committee member,who didn’t wish to be quoted as the committee is yet to communicate its official stand.

Hutokshi Rustamfram from the Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Action Committee pointed out that the garden has the largest collection of trees in the city. “It is also the largest public open space in the heart of the city. No zoo in the world has ever come up with such a ridiculous idea of allowing people inside the animal enclosures,” she said.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Rani Bagh,initially established as a public botanical garden. Today,it hosts 8,000 visitors daily on an average and 30,000 on holidays.

The makeover plan prepared by Thailand-based HKS Designer and Consultants International proposes exhibits for existing animals in addition to others that will be brought from Africa,South East Asia and Australia and an underground car park.

The MHCC had shot down BMC’s proposal last year after consulting two experts,zoologist and director of Bombay Natural History Society,Dr Asad Rahmani,and botanist Dr M R Almeida,who had found the existing space too small for BMC’s ambitious plans.

“The holding areas attached to the animal enclosures are meant for feeding or temporarily keeping a few species like big cats when the main enclosure is being cleaned. Is the BMC suggesting that if 500 people want to see the giraffe and two persons want to study the trees inside the enclosures,they will shift all the animals to the small holding areas?” asked Dr Rahmani.

Gupta said the BMC tried its best to comply with MHCC’s suggestions. “If any trees inside the enclosures require to be studied by botany students,we will plant similar species outside,” he said,adding that the suggestion about allowing people inside cages was just an additional measure.