Karnataka: Atal Bihari Vajpayee zoological park set to open, but no order on PIL

BALLARI: A zoological park named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, coming up at Kamalapur near the world heritage site, Hampi, at an estimated cost of Rs 34 crores, could be thrown open to visitors in six months though the high court has not completed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) against the park by local wildlife activists.

The park—inside Billikallu West Reserve Forest — has been the bone of contention ever since the BJP government took a decision on it in November 2010 and to develop it in Kamalapura, where the Daroji Bear Sanctuary, is located. It was originally planned for Munirabad in Koppal district, but was shifted to Ballari, the home district of then tourism minister G. Janardhan Reddy.

But wildlife activists contend that zoo animals would prove dangerous for wild animals as they could transmit diseases usually borne by captive beasts. The reserve forest is home to animals like sloth bears, wild boars, leopards, pangolins, simians and hundreds of species of birds and reptiles.

This prompted two local wildlife activists to file a PIL in Karnataka High Court. The petition has been admitted and pending for hearing. The petition sought judicial intervention to quash the government order that led to shifting of the zoo to the reserve forest.

One of the petitioners, Santosh Martin, told Deccan Chronicle that it would be disastrous to have a zoo inside the forest area. “Pristine forest should not be destroyed for the sake of a zoo which can be built elsewhere. This is a corridor for many animals and a nesting ground for endangered birds,” he added.