COIMBATORE: A year after the VOC zoological park was closed due to non-renewal of licence, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) started renovating the park on the premises under the CSR initiative. The CCMC is planning to convert the zoological park into bird park after holding talks with the forest department.
The VOC park is one of the important landmarks of the city. It comprises a children’s playground, a public park and a zoological park. Despite being a leisure hotspot, the park was never maintained properly by the civic body. As a result, the condition of the parks deteriorated.
Although a few of the playground equipment was replaced and repaired by the officials, major areas in the zoo and public park were left unattended over the years leaving them to rust, leading to the shutdown. In this situation, the civic body officials have finally begun to give a facelift to the VOC public park. A CCMC official told TNIE,
“Based on commissioner’s orders, we are currently shifting the old dinosaur sculptures from the ‘Jurassic Park’ set up inside the facility to a different spot where it’s more visible for the public. Maybe the civic body will announce the plans for the complete renovation of the park in the upcoming budget session.”
CCMC Commissioner M Prathap told TNIE that dinosaur sculptures in the ‘Jurassic Park’ facility are being repaired at the cost of about `10 lakh, adding, the civic body will be renovating the entire park with help of CSR funds soon. “As far as the VOC zoological park is concerned, there has been no update from the central government. We will be arranging a meeting with the forest department and take a final call. We are also planning to convert the facility into a bird park,” he added.
