The entry fees for viewing penguins in the civic zoo in Mumbai was Rs 100 while it was Rs 250 in Science City near Ahmedabad in neighbouring Gujarat, Mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Monday.
Pednekar, deputy mayor Suhas Wadekar and some Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials had, on Saturday, visited Science City, which is home to five penguins that were brought from Johannesburg in South Africa last year.
Speaking to reporters at her official residence in Byculla here, the mayor said the penguin facility in Mumbai was better than the one in Gujarat, adding that some people with vested interests, however, continued to defame the metropolis on this issue.
In a comparative report prepared after the visit, the mayor claimed the entry fees at Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan for a family of four was Rs 100, while it was free for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
However, the entry fee at Science City was Rs 50 and a further Rs 200 to see the Aquatic Gallery where the penguins are housed, she said.
Presently, Mumbai has nine penguins, while Ahmedabad has five.
As per officials, the BMC had spent Rs 17 crore to build a befitting enclosure for Humboldt penguins that were brought from South Korea in 2016.
Pednekar said Science City officials informed her the Aquatic Gallery was built there at a cost of Rs 257 crore, with penguins being kept in an enclosure where the temperature is maintained at 21-25 degrees Celsius.
While the Shiv Sena, which rules the BMC, and especially Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray have spoken highly of the penguin facility in Mumbai and have often called it a gift for its citizens, the BJP has routinely claimed the expenditure incurred on the initiative was on the higher side.
