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Replying to Jairam Ramesh’s post, Bhupender Yadav said, “Some people have made it a habit to create doubts in the mind of the public at every instance.” (Source: X)
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav Saturday rebutted questions and privatization concerns raised by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh regarding the Delhi Zoo and an agreement proposed between the Centre-run establishment and Reliance-run Greens Zoological, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GZRRC).
In a post on social media platform X, Yadav said that the National Zoological Park (NZP), which is run by the Centre, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GZRRC, based in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, in January 2021, and NZP has sought to revise the existing MoU. He said NZP has signed MoUs with different organisations working in wildlife management in the past as part of its modernisation drive and will continue to do so.
Replying to Ramesh’s post, Yadav said, “Some people have made it a habit to create doubts in the mind of the public at every instance.” Ramesh had said on June 4 that while the government “claims that this is not a management transfer, its past record does not inspire confidence. Is this the first step towards handing over the zoo to a private enterprise?”
Yadav said that the 2021 MoU between NZP and GZRRC focused on the exchange of animals, capacity building, animal keepers, technical exchanges on the scientific management of animals, and sharing knowledge on conservation breeding and education.
“Keeping in line with the common objectives of captive wildlife management and for further broadening the collaboration as per current management requirements, NZP sought to revise the existing MoU with GZRRC. The proposed MoU aims to foster collaboration in wildlife conservation, rescue, rehabilitation, animal health, and welfare,” Yadav said.
The key areas of cooperation, he added, include support for veterinary care, enclosure design, enrichment, staff training, knowledge-sharing initiatives, and potential animal exchanges.
Yadav added in his post that GZRRC has developed state-of-the-art facilities and services in animal health and welfare, world-class zoo designing, rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals, and habitat enrichment. NZP, he said, being a 60-year-old institution, has gained substantial expertise in breeding and care of many endangered species and is aiming to modernise its facilities and services by adopting best practices in animal welfare in captivity, as well as enhanced visitor experience, on par with a world-class zoo.
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The Central Zoo Authority granted approval to GZRCC in February 2019, and an initial recognition was granted in August 2020. As per its latest available annual report, GZRRC is home to 10,360 animals of 345 species. Most animals housed at GZRRC are “part of its initiative to rescue captive animals from impoverished conditions in zoos and facilities in the nature of zoos, to decongest them and provide welfare to animals that were housed under sub-optimal conditions,” the annual report states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited and inaugurated Vantara, the rescue facility at Jamnagar, on March 4 this year.
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