Indira Gandhi Zoological Park shift draws flak in virtual world

Several disgruntled netizens are taking to social media and criticising the government’s reported move. From adding a tagline on their profile pictures which says “don’t shift our zoo” carrying a fist symbol to spreading the campaign online, the denizens are going all out to stop the shifting. And if the current mood is anything to go by, people of all walks of life seem to have gone into frenzy over the proposal.

‘After #Hudhud the only thing that is uniting the Vizagites in a huge way is the news of shifting the #Vizag zoo to a different place,” reads a tweet posted under the handle of ‘We Love Vizag.’

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Kuppili Mura-lidhar, an advocate and president of ‘Forum of Legal Professionals’, said, “This is a clever ploy to hoodwink the people of Visakhapatnam in the name of a botanical garden.” “Once the zoo is shifted, real estate sharks would grab the land and within no time commercial establishments spri-ng up in that locality,” he complained.

Speaking to this correspondent, some Vizagites took pot-shots at the State government and asked why it doesn’t earmark another location for the botanical gardens instead of shifting the existing zoo. Some opined that it could turn out to be a grave blow for the State government.

“It’s time to show our power against land grabbers who wants to shift our Vizag zoo for their business benefits,” reads a Facebook post by Chandrasekhar Buddha under ‘My Visakhapat-nam’ handle.

Some twitterati took a mild tone to make a point. ‘Dear @ncbn we all love our vizag Zoo and ppl of vizag think govt doesnt have to shift the zoo. Hope the views of ppl are respected by Govt,’ posted another user.

India Youth for Society (IYFS) of Visakhapatnam had launched a postcard campaign against the shifting. Elaborating on the issue, CS Rao, a retired IRS officer said that ‘The zoo shifting is highly unacceptable to the people of Vizag as it can raise the temperatures of the city and make people devoid of greener living.”

When asked what would be their next move, Muralidhar said, “We try all the measures to th-wart the shifting process. If the need arises, the forum would not hesitate to move the court.”