Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has approved a proposal to open a new zoo in Thane. (Representative image showing an Indian Bison)
Credit: iStock Photo
Thane: The hustling-bustling Thane city, which neighbours India’s financial capital of Mumbai - is set to get a botanical garden and zoo of international standards, which would attract a large number of tourists.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, who is an MLA from Thane city, has cleared the proposal, in a meeting in which MLA Pratap Sarnaik was present.
The botanical park and zoo is expected to come up in Kasarvadavali off the Ghodbunder Road, which connects Thane to major hubs of the Mumbai metropolitan region.
“The chief minister has sanctioned a zoo for Thane city,” Sarnaik confirmed.
Maharashtra has several good zoos including the Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Garden & Zoo at Byculla, popularly known as Byculla Zoo or Rani Baug in Mumbai.
Other big zoos in the state are Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park, known earlier as the Gorewada Zoo, in Nagpur, Siddharth Garden and Zoo in Aurangabad, Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Pune and Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali in Mumbai, which has a tiger and lion safari, Nisargakavi Bahinabai Chaudhary Pranisangrahalaya in Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune, Maharaj Baug Zoo in Nagpur, Maharaja Shahaji Chhatrapati Zoo in Kolhapur.
The second zoo in the Mumbai-MMR would go a long way after Rani Baug, where the footfall is very high.