Leopard safari launched at Bannerghatta Biological Park
Bengaluru, Jun 26: Karnataka Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre on Wednesday launched the leopard safari at the Bannerghatta Biological Park here and asked officials to provide saplings to visitors at discounted rates.
He said that zoos are known to care for wildlife but apart from entertainment, zoos should also become centres of knowledge.
While inaugurating various development works including leopard safari at the Biological Park in Bannerghatta, which is touted as South India's first and largest in the country, he said people who come to the biological park are happy to see the wildlife but they should also be made aware of at least 10 types of trees by providing them information so that they can recognise the trees here.
Khandre said visitors will get to see the big cats in their natural environment spread across 20 hectares (49.5 acres) of deciduous forest in which eight leopards have been released.
ALSO READ: Child trafficking racket busted in Karnataka with arrest of seven; five children rescued
The area is protected by a railway barricade and a chain link fence of 4.5 metre height.
In addition, metal sheets of 1.5 metres have been erected with a 30 degree slant, to ensure that the animals do not escape. The guidelines issued by the Central Zoo Authority have been adopted, he said.
The Minister noted that the hilly terrain of Bannerghatta covered with greenery hosts many leopards, whose cubs have been rescued by the officials often from agricultural fields. At present, the Biological Park rescue centre has 14 leopards.
As the department seeks to combine eco-tourism with afforestation, he asked officials to create awareness among the visitors at the zoo about biodiversity, the importance of oxygen-giving trees, role of forests and ecology in everyday life and sell saplings at discounted rates.
He urged officials to encourage them to buy a sapling on their way back home and plant it in front of their house and nurture it. In the same way that farmers are given saplings at a discounted rate, they also instructed that the visitors to the zoo should also be supplied with saplings at a discounted rate.
Khandre also inaugurated an elephant feeding centre built at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. The centre is aimed at creating a strong bond between mahuts and elephant calves, which are separated from their mothers at the age of three.
Presently, there are 26 elephants in Bannerghatta Biological Park and on an average, about two to three elephants are born every year. The centre will help mahuts and it will help to give round-the-clock care to the new-borns, the minister added.
Bhoomi Puja was also performed on Wednesday to begin work on a skywalk and five new animal enclosures at Bannerghatta Biological Park. The skywalk will connect the zoo with the butterfly park and provide a closer view of the canopy and birds.
He said the Biological Park will have a centre to support breastfeeding mothers and facilities will be provided to care for babies. Two more such centres will constructed by December next year.
ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಹೊರವಲಯದ ಬನ್ನೇರುಘಟ್ಟದ ಜೈವಿಕ ಉದ್ಯಾನದಲ್ಲಿಂದು ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತದ ಮೊದಲ ಹಾಗೂ ದೇಶದ ಅತಿ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಚಿರತೆ ಸಫಾರಿ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ವಿವಿಧ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿಗಳನ್ನು ಉದ್ಘಾಟಿಸಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದೆ. @aranya_kfd pic.twitter.com/2f2jcFTs4h
— Eshwar Khandre (@eshwar_khandre) June 26, 2024
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
