Bird park, zoo, aquarium to come up at Aarey Colony

If on your recent visit to Singapore you were mighty impressed by the Jurong Bird Park, wait till you hear about the Forest Department's (FD) plans to create similar tourist attractions in Goregaon's Aarey Milk Colony. Along with a bird park, the department also plans to set up a world-class zoo and an aquarium on the 190 acres of land, which will be handed over by the Aarey Dairy Development to them in the next two months.u00a0

Green Plan: The 190-acres land in Aarey Milk Colony earmarked for the project is near the boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park. File pic

Aarey Dairy CEO Ashok Jadhav said, "For a very long time the forest department wanted the land from Aarey Milk Colony in order to develop a world-class zoo along with other things. We will soon be handing over 190 acres of land from Aarey Milk Colony to FD."

The Forest Department has been requesting for rights to use the land from Aarey Dairy Development since 1980. Speaking to MiD DAY, a senior Forest Department official said, "We had requested Aarey authorities to give us the land in 1980 itself and it is good news that now they have decided to give us the land. We have plans to come with a bird park (aviary), aquarium and an international zoo on the 190 acres of land."

The 190 acres plot is near Maroshi Pada in Aarey Milk Colony and is close to the boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Sources from the FD also said that the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) would implement the project. However, it plans to appoint international consultants to come up with a concrete plan for the project.

"As part of the plans, we will be setting up a bird park, aquarium and an international zoo which will not only attract a lot of tourists but will also help in educating people about forest conservation, which is the need of the hour," added the forest department official.

The Forest Department hopes to get possession of the land by August and start work such as boundary making and measuring the land soon after. According to sources, the ambitious project, which will begin in 2014, will take about three years to complete.

What is a bird aviary?
A bird aviary is a large, enclosed space where birds can fly freely and don't feel caged. Some of the famous aviaries in the world can be found at London zoo, National Zoo in Washington DC and the San Diego zoo. u00a0