Odisha’s Nandanakan Zoo Plans To Allow Night Visits, Undertake Expansion

Bhubaneswar: The authorities at Nandankanan Zoological Park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar are making arrangements for the people to visit the zoo and see the animals during night.

According to sources, a master plan to keep the Nandankanan Zoo open for visitors for a specified period has been submitted to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA). The proposal is to allow the visitors from 6 pm to 7 pm or from 7 pm to 8 pm.

The master plan has been prepared in accordance with the instructions of the central government. While all zoo authorities used to submit a master plan for 10 years earlier, this time it has been submitted for 20 years,

According to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sushil Kumar Popli, a proposal has also been made in the master plan for the expansion of the area of Nandankanan Zoo by including Krushnaprasad and Chudanga forest areas.

With these additions, the total area of Nandankan Zoo will go up to 1,043 hectares.

A proposal for allowing night visits to the zoo has been mooted. Visitors will be allowed during late evening hours for educational awareness. Films will also be shown and selected people will be allowed to walk around enclosures of nocturnal animals.

These proposals need to be approved by the government, he said, adding that if everything moves as per plan, people will soon be able to visit the zoo during night hours.

It may be noted here that there are 167 species and over 4000 animals at the zoo at present and  plans are afoot to increase the number of animal species to 250.