Chennai: Two wildlife projects in limbo due to official apathy

Chennai: Two pet projects of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa that would have put Tamil Nadu on the global wildlife map are gathering dust due to official incompetence.

Jayalalithaa had sanctioned close to Rs 250 crore for setting up a world class oceanarium at Mammallapuram and advanced institute of wildlife conservation (research, training and education) at a cost of Rs 74.37 crore in 2012.

Almost five years have passed both the projects one handled by the ministry of fisheries and the other handled by forest ministry are yet to see the light of the day.

According to informed sources with the secretariat and forest department, both the schemes received impetus during 2013, when the then chief minister Jayalalithaa announced the projects on the assembly floor and they were cleared within the same year by the state finance department, but for some reasons the project is either progressing at snail pace or hanging in balance, the sources clarified.

In case of oceanarium, the state is yet to finalise a global contractor who could execute the global project. The oceanarium was planned as an infotainment park for the national and international tourists as well as a platform for research focused on marine mammals like dolphin, whale shark, shark and stingrays.

According to sources with forest department, it was the department secretaries which sat on the files related to the advanced institute of wildlife conservation. In the past six years, a massive building has been completed near the Vandalur zoo and a few lab equipment are gathering dust but there are no signs of inaugurating the centre. The department has been shortlisting the administrators and scientists for the centre since 2014 and there is no progress till date.

”We were told by the local panchayat and fisheries officials that a site of around 14 acres belonging to Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation has been identified for oceanarium in 2014, but four years have passed with no development at Mamallapuram,” said C Rajesh, fishing village head, Mamallapuram.

Expert says

In 2013-14 budget, the state announced plan to establish a world class oceanarium at Mamallapuram in Kancheepuram district, at a cost of '250 crore under public private partnership mode. This oceanarium will be the first of its kind in the country and will be on par with international standards, which will replicate a miniature model of an ocean, exhibiting live marine aquatic fauna and flora in the natural environment.

Advertisements and tender inviting bids have been floated for both the projects for the past three years, but no progress till date. In 2012, the idea of advanced centre at zoo was mooted and 59 posts were sanctioned by the state to take care of the centre and the adjacent zoo, but recruitment is yet to be commence even after five years.