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A crocodile keeps visitors at bay in Katraj park
by Shivaji
Pune:
All boating activities have come to a standstill in
the lake inside Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park at Katraj
near Pune in Maharashtra following the discovery of an
elusive crocodile. The Maharashtra Tourism Corporation
(MTDC) that had set up a pleasure boating office here
has suspended boating facilities at vast expanse of water
for the past three months. Katraj Lake located on the
outskirts of Pune on the Satara Roadhad been a popular
spot for picnickers and tourists which in turn had resulted
in the setting up of the snake park in 1986 and later
expanded to a zoo, spread over 42 acres of forested greenery.
The zoo has been developed and managed by the Pune Municipal
Corporation and all the animals from the Peshwa Zoological
Park that existed within the congested city limits were
shifted here. Later it was rechristened as the Rajiv Gandhi
Zoological Park and became a weekend getaway for hundreds
of locals and also the tourists. The MTDC constructed
an attractive lake resort at a cost of rupees two crores.
However, the presence of the crocodile that surfaces quite
often has discouraged the visitors from pleasure boating.
"Here boating facility was an attraction for tourists.
But after it was suspended, tourists were dismayed as
they are unable to access the rowing facilities. It is
a loss for the corporation because the boats are lying
idle. We are getting no income from these and even the
workers are sitting idle in the absence of boating," said
Hemant Phadke, Regional Manager, Maharashtra Tourism Development
Corporation, Katraj Lake. The lake now stands deserted
because of the crocodile scare. "Many tourists are upset
because they cannot enjoy boating in the lake inhabited
by a crocodile. So they just come and watch the lake from
a distance. Because of this public is very upset with
the zoo management and the tourism department," said Vishal
Lokhande, a tourist. The inability of authorities of the
municipal body to catch the reptile whenever it is sighted
has annoyed the MTDC officials as their business has been
badly affected after this.
-Jan
31, 2009
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