assam state zoo forms zoo society

[Guest guest]

roopak goswami

 

employees of assam state zoo contribute money from

their salaries for upkeep of zoo/donations welcome

from throughout the world

 

 

guwahati, may 28: : as a lavish 15-day-long

anniversary bash to celebrate assam chief minister

tarun-gogoi's government's two-year in office gets

under way, employees of the state zoo have decided to

contribute from their salaries to pay for the upkeep

of the zoological park.

 

faced with an unprecedented financial crisis, zoo

employees have set up

a society with their own contributions for development

of zoo and

wildlife conservation.

 

the innovative move was initiated by the divisional

forest officer

(dfo)

of assam state zoo narayan mahanta early this month to

set up a zoo

society with minimal contributions from all including

the casual staff

for development of zoo and other aspects of the zoo.

 

" i called a meeting of all the people working in the

zoo including the

casual labourers and threw them the idea of having a

society so that

the

people are accountable. all of them interacted and

gave nod to the

setting up of a society " mahanta told the telegraph.

 

mahanta said this would help us in strengthening the

bonds between all

the people working in the zoo. " i clearly told them

that nobody would

be forced to join the society and it is upto their own

individual

choice

" he said.

 

a constitution has been formed and all permanent

employees would be

contributing rs 10 monthly while the casual ones would

pay rs 5. " it

will also help in boosting the image of the zoo which

has taken a

beating from the visitors " he added.

 

he said the forest minister pradyut bordoloi and the

chief wildlife

warden of the forest department have been informed of

the decision.

 

" the idea got crystallised after finding that many a

times the zoo does

not have money for treatment of its own employees and

often they are

left to fend for themselves. the formation of a

society with small

contributions will atleast take care of the problem "

he said.

 

he said the money collected will be used for wildlife

conservation,

development of zoo, staff welfare and awareness

programme.

 

" we will soon get registered under the societies and

registration act

and also explore possibility for getting donations for

the development

of zoo " he added. a joint bank account will also be

opened.

 

he said the society has taken a decision to sell caps

under the assam

zoo logo which will increase its coffers.

 

" booklets on inmates present in the zoo will be sold

at rs 2 to

interested visitors to make their trip a memorable

one. " this will

also

force them to think that they had visited the zoo and

not just went for

eatinh " he added. an executive committee comprising of

casual labourers

to ensure participation from all and dfo has already

been formed.

 

the state zoo spread over an area of 175 hectares has

89 species with

533 animals and has a number of endangered species. he

said steps are

being taken to improve the infrastructure of the zoo.

 

(eom)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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