This story is from September 11, 2017

Fund crunch hits SP government Etawah lion safari

Fund crunch hits SP government Etawah lion safari
LUCKNOW: Now it's the fund crunch which might delay the inauguration of the former Akhilesh government's pet project, the Etawah lion safari.
Forest department had planned to hire an international hospitality firm to maintain and run the safari but it's the high price quoted by the firm which has made the department do a re-think and hire a new firm.
The firm has quoted about Rs 11crore for five years for the safari's maintenance.
Sources said the expenses of the safari are met by the Etawah safari society which cannot afford paying about Rs 2.5crore every year to the firm.
Apart from the salary of the safari employees and staff, other expenses are met by the Etawah lion safari society. But the society does not have enough funds.
The process to hire a new firm and service provider might take at least two months and it's not before next year that the safari might be opened for public.
The state government, on the other hand, is yet to release the sanctioned budget for the safari which has kept the plan to buy jeeps and other infrastructure on hold.
The Etawah safari is the first in the country to also have a lion breeding centre. Spread over 350 hectare, it is also the biggest `extended' zoo in the state. It would also have deer, bear, antelope and leopard safaris.

The lion safari would claim the biggest area about 50 hectares while breeding centre exists over 5 hectares. Deer safari spreads over 31.5 hectare and has twenty cheetals and ten sambhars, antelope safari spreads over 30 hectare and has ten black bucks and bear safari over 21 hectare and has four bear.
Leopard safari would come up on 21 hectare and take time to get ready.
While the construction is complete at the safari it will take time before it releases lions in the visitors' area. The safari is yet to raise ten lion cubs which is the minimum requisite number fixed by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
"But we would soon inaugurate the other safaris," said chief wildlife warden and PCCF (wildlife), UP, SK Upadhyay.
Etawah safari was recognized as a zoo by Central Zoo Authority in November 2016. After which forest department had sent the proposal to the previous Akhilesh government to inaugurate the safari but it was the family fued that kept the government busy and project could not be inaugurated, said sources.
At present the safari's breeding centre has three males, Gigo, Manan and Pataudi and three females, Heer, Kunwari and Jessica. It has two male cubs, Simba and Sultan. There is a plan to bring two lions from a zoo in Gujarat again to expedite the project.
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