Night safari, a distant dream

Night safari, a distant dream
By: Chetan R
Date: 2008-11-20

Bangalore:

Stuck: The nght safari project will have to wait File pic
The proposed night safari, first-of-its-kind venture in the country, has hit a roadblock yet again due to differences among the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) officials.

Pre-launch activities including impact study and carrying-capacity study of the park have still not been taken up. "Without carrying out these studies, they can't launch the project," said Vinod Kumar, a wildlife expert. "Even if they start, it will fail as a similar experiment in Mysore did, five years ago."

"The project will not see light of the day in the near future. As the required formalities are yet to start, its launch is doubtful," he said.

According to the proposal, the night safari would operate from 6 pm to 10 pm and take nature lovers on a ride to sight nocturnal wildlife in the BNP. The project was included in a new master plan, drafted two years ago, for BNP.

As the officials have not started any work yet, the project remains a distant dream.

"Differences triggered when the then DCF Markhandeya came out his plans," said an official in BNP. "The present officers don't want this and are delaying it."

Denial

However, BNP officials deny this. "There is no delay in any work from our side," said Nagbhushan, range forest officer. There is no difference of opinion among us on the master plan or the pre-launch activities. I can't further comment on this."