Alipore zoo to have centre for mothers to breastfeed their kids

KOLKATA: The Alipore Zoological Gardens is all set to open a 'child care centre' mainly for providing a separate place for a mother to breastfeed her child. The centre is coming up at a stone's throw away from the main entrance of the zoo.

"There has been a lot of requests for setting up a such a centre where nursing mothers can take a little rest in private space while breastfeeding their children. The infrastructure is ready and it will be unveiled soon within the first or second week of December," Asis Samanta, director of Alipore Zoo said.There will be baby feeding facilities for seven to eight mothers at a time.

There has been more than one instance when our office room had to be vacated for allowing space for mothers feeding their respective child. "The location of the room has been strategically planed so that it catches the attention of every single visitor," he added.

Considering the fact that winter is the pick season in the Alipore Zoo, the authorities have taken up infrastructural development to woo more vistors. The enclosure of the Chimpanzee as well as the marmosets are being widened.

The footfall in the Alipore Zoo is gradually returning to normalcy. In October, the footfall was 1.5 lakh that rose upto 2 lakh in November. The turnout on weekends or holidays have already crossed the 15000 mark."We are already having a footfall which is over 70 per cent of pre-COVID times. We are hopeful that the zoo will continue to attract a good number of visitors in winter with COVID situation under control," a senior Zoo official said.