(IN): Upkeep lack in eyesore zoo

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090331/jsp/calcutta/story_10590814.jsp

*Upkeep lack in eyesore zoo*

 

With Subhas Chakraborty and his cohorts lobbying for control of the Maidan,

*Metro* checks out another patch of green under the West Bengal government,

the Alipore Zoological Gardens. Every part of the zoo, especially its water

bodies, bears evidence of slack maintenance by the forest department

 

*Entrance flag*

 

Visitors come to the zoo to see the majestic white tiger or colourful

migratory birds but are greeted by Congress party flags at the entrance. A

security guard says the zoo employees’ union is affiliated to the party.

 

“Needless to say, the hawkers flocking the pavement outside the zoo and

blocking the ticket windows, too, belong to some union or the other. So they

are allowed to sit there and inconvenience pedestrians and visitors,” says a

visitor when asked what he thought about the flags.

 

Another sorry sight awaits the visitors near the birdcages. Polythene bags

and empty food packets are strewn everywhere. Stray bricks lie on the green

patches.

 

The “use me” bins are covered in bird droppings and some are broken. Dust

reigns supreme.

 

*Woeful water bodies*

 

The ponds inside the zoo are in an abysmal condition. Even the birds seemed

to be giving a pond covered with moss a miss.

 

Empty mineral water bottles, packets of fruit drinks, biscuit wrappers and

newspapers used as mats float on the green water. A stench hangs in the air.

 

The same problems plagues the other ponds on the premises, particularly the

one thronged by migratory birds. An inlet connecting two water bodies is

choked with debris, including styrofoam and paper plates discarded by

visitors.

 

Even the moat surrounding the tiger’s den has over 50 plastic bottles and a

deflated football floating in the dirty water.

 

*Crumbling reptile house *

 

Most buildings in the 180,000sq m garden could use a coat of paint and

urgent repairs, none more than the old reptile house, right at the centre of

the zoo.

 

The once-red building is used by security guards to rest, cook and even hang

clothes for drying. The dilapidated doors, windows, walls and roof of the

building make a sordid picture from outside.

 

*Officialspeak:* S.K. Chowdhury, the director of the zoo, agreed that the

premises needed a lot of tidying up.

 

Admitting that weeds posed a threat to the zoo ponds, Chowdhury said: “The

most effective way to deal with weeds or water hyacinth is to apply

chemicals, which of course we can’t do as animals and birds cannot be kept

away from water even for a day.”

 

The hyacinth is manually removed twice a week, but it grows back within

three to four days, he rued.

 

He said visitors wantonly dirty the premises and throw bottles and waste

into the water.

 

Asked about the dilapidated state of the buildings, he said: “We cannot

paint the entire premises at one go. Currently work is on at Dumraon House,

which houses monkeys. We will take up the repairs in the other buildings

after that.”

 

An “Interpretation Centre” will come up at the old reptile house, he said.

“It will exhibit the biodiversity of north and south Bengal.”

 

*— Rith Basu*

 

 

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