After being shut for a month after a surge covid 19 cases under the third wave of a pandemic the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, popularly known as Byculla Zoo or Rani Baug reopened for the public on Thursday. According to the zoo administration total 2810 visitors rushed to get a glimpse of the new inmates Veera, the tiger cub and Oscar and Oreo he penguins chicks.
On Thursday the zoo collected revenue of Rs 1,23,925.
The zoo, which shut down owing to the Covid-19 lockdown on March 25, 2020, lost a significant amount of revenue during the pandemic. Between March and June 2019, it had collected nearly Rs 1.87 crore only through the sale of tickets. Prior to the lockdown, during peak season, its revenue collection touched Rs 4.5-Rs 5 lakh per month. However, revenue collected in 2020 up to March 15 was Rs 1.92 lakh.
After 11 months of remaining shut, the zoo reopened on February 15, 2021, after the first wave flattened its curve, but had to shut down again in April owing to the second wave. It reopened again on November 1, 2012, after a gap of seven months and it drew over 1,621 visitors and garnered revenue of Rs 68,725 on day one (November 1). As soon as we reopened after the second wave, we received a massive response. Many are due to Diwali vacations. In the first eight days in November 2021, since it reopened we recorded a footfall of over 50k visitors and the total revenue collected was Rs 21.18 lakh. In November we collected a revenue of Rs. 68,00,600, while revenue of Rs. 66,98,925 has been collected between December 1 to December 27, 2021," said Dr Sanjay Tripathi, Director of Byculla Zoo.
He added: "Our teams are well equipped to handle the crowd. The stringent precautionary measures have been in place since it opened and we have not let the guard down even for a single day. Anticipating huge footfall this time we have had meetings on security measures, we already have 30 security personnel in place. Besides that we have added one more ticket counter, so from three, there are four ticket counters now to ease the rush."
The Byculla Zoo also gets many visitors in the form of morning and evening walkers. However, currently due to Covid-19 only a morning walk is allowed in the zoo between 6 am to 8.30 am followed by the operational timings of the zoo which is 9.30 am to 6 pm.
The Zoo administration has proposed to start online ticketing
Elaborating on the new proposal Dr Tripathi said: " We are developing a dedicated app for the Zoo. Wherein we are looking at starting online ticket booking for entry to the zoo. This too will ease the crowd at the physical ticket counters especially on weekends. We have tabled a proposal pertaining to this in BMC."
After being shut for a month after a surge covid 19 cases under the third wave of a pandemic the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, popularly known as Byculla Zoo or Rani Baug reopened for the public on Thursday, | Bhushan Koyande
Currently due to Covid-19 only a morning walk is allowed in the zoo between 6 am to 8.30 am followed by the operational timings of the zoo which is 9.30 am to 6 pm. | Bhushan Koyande
The Byculla Zoo also gets many visitors in the form of morning and evening walkers. | Bhushan Koyande
The zoo, which shut down owing to the Covid-19 lockdown on March 25, 2020, lost a significant amount of revenue during the pandemic. | Bhushan Koyande
After being shut for a month after a surge covid 19 cases under the third wave of a pandemic the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, popularly known as Byculla Zoo or Rani Baug reopened for the public on Thursday, | Bhushan Koyande
