After
deciding to take up the zoo improvement project under the Smart Cities
mission, the Coimbatore Corporation has sent the proposal for Rs. 12.15
crore to the State Government for approval. Sources in the Coimbatore
Corporation said that the zoo designers/consultants, the corporation had
engaged sometime last year, had submitted a plan, which they sent to
the Central Zoo Authority for approval.

The plan was to annex the nearby VOC Park so that the total area of the zoo was around 10 acre.

This was to ensure that each animal/species had adequate free ranging area and that complied with the Authority’s norms.

The
Authority sought a few clarifications, which the corporation had
successfully addressed. Even as it awaited the Authority’s approval for
redesigning the zoo, the corporation had sent the proposal under the
Smart Cities mission to the State Government for financial approval.

The
Coimbatore Smart City Limited, the special purpose vehicle created for
executing projects under the Smart Cities mission, also approved of the
proposal, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the corporation had
relocated two camels and 28 goat to animal cattle shelter near
Coimbatore and had planned to send a few more to another cattle shelter
in Pollachi. It was also in talks with the Forest Department to see how
it could rehabilitate feral and commonly found animals so that the
number of animals and birds went down, the sources added.