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.
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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
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EC-TMC meet ends on bitter note; CEC asks TMC delegation to 'get lost', MP accused of 'shouting'
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New Delhi (PTI): The meeting between a Trinamool Congress delegation and the full bench of the Election Commission on Wednesday culminated on an acrimonious note, with the TMC saying the panel's chief asked them to "get lost" at the end of the seven-minute meeting, while the EC accused them of "shouting".
After the meeting, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien told mediapersons that they handed over letters from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, and also apprised him of specific instances of poll officials having links with the BJP.
"Then he said, 'Get lost'. We have done eight to nine meetings with the Election Commission. Apart from the CEC, none of the other election commissioners spoke," O'Brien said.
"While we were walking out, one of my colleagues congratulated Gyanesh Kumar for being the only CEC to have notices moved in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for his removal," O'Brien MP said.
Meanwhile, sources in the Election Commission said the poll panel chief gave a "straight talk" to TMC leaders.
They accused O'Brien of shouting at the election commissioners and alleged that he asked the CEC not to speak.
The EC sources further said the elections in West Bengal would be "fear-free, violence-free, intimidation-free, and inducement-free."
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