The Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister, Government of Punjab, Bhagat Chunni Lal visited Chhatbir Zoo to inspect the working of the zoo. He also enquired about the administrative setup of the zoo and the staff employed in the zoo for its various works.Disclosing this, a spokesperson of the Forest Department said that the Minister also enquired about the status of animal inventory of the zoo apart from the recently executed animal exchange programs of Chhatbir zoo. Field Director Chhatbir Zoo briefed the Minister about two recent animal exchange programs with Kanpur Zoo and Junagarh zoo under which Chhatbir Zoo has received new animals like Asiatic lion, white peacock, Hyena, Tiger and others.
The Minister also enquired about the annual budget requirement and annual expenditure of the zoo. He also enquired about any new project related to Zoo development being proposed. About this, Chief Wildlife Warden briefed that Punjab Tourism Department is going to fund a development project for Chhatbir Zoo with the funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB). This project covers 5-6 major developmental works of the zoo like re-carpeting of the zoo roads which are due since long, development of Modern Interpretation Centre, Children education park, theme based zoo entrance gate etc.
It was briefed to the Minister that rebate is being given to the school children in entry ticket rates. It was also told that in the month of March 2015, visitation rate has broken all previous records for the month of March of any previous year. The Minister made some valuable suggestions to improve the publicity of the zoo.The Minister was also made aware that the entry to the zoo is free for media persons (with or without camera).During the visit, The Minister visited all the important enclosures of the zoo like Tiger, Elephant, Lion, Hyena, Leopard, Bears, Aviary, Deer Safari, Gharial etc. He also saw the gharial hatchlings kept separately in the zoo hospital. During visit to all these enclosures, The Minister reviewed the practices being followed for the care and management of these animals in the zoo apart from the kind of feeds given to the various zoo animals.