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Bengal

Alipore Zoo mulls introduction of battery operated vehicles to help visitors

Kolkata: The Alipore Zoological Garden is planning to introduce battery operated vehicle to facilitate the movement of visitors in the zoo.
The zoo authorities believe that such vehicle will be of immense help particularly for the elderly, children and physically challenged persons who face difficulty in covering the entire stretch of the zoo that is laid out on a 45-acre of land.
"We will be soon holding talks with some companies that deal with such battery operated environment friendly vehicles. We have plans to procure six such vehicles. They will be functional from March to October - November when the footfall in the zoo is not too heavy. This is because from December to February, the zoo is so much crammed for space that it will be impossible to run such vehicles," said Asis Kumar Samanta, director of Alipore Zoo.
The zoo remains one of the most popular winter tourist attractions in Kolkata.
In the month of December and January, the average footfall in the zoo is 22 lakh, which is nearly 70 percent of the total footfall in the zoo round the year. The zoo sees around 36 lakh visitors around the year.
It may be mentioned that the zoo already has two such vehicles that were gifted a few years ago by state Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim, who is also an MLA from Kolkata Port area under which the zoo is situated. "One of the vehicle is used for internal work while another has been lying defunct," a senior Zoo official said.
It may be mentioned that such battery operated vehicles have been very popular at Eco Park in New Town.
The Nandankanan Zoological park in Bhubaneshwar has already introduced such vehicles.
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