India to experience a night safari in Greater Noida soon

The initial phase of first night safari in India is likely to start very soon in National Capital Region Greater Noida.

Earlier, the National Capital Region (NCR) Board approved the National Capital Region (NCR) Board last week.

The project is planned on the concept of the famed Singapore Night Safari, was still awaited for an approval from the NCR board, officials told IANS.

"Now the biggest bottleneck has been removed. We hope to start work at the earliest," said Anil Kumar Gupta, the Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner.

Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani will monitor the progress of the Project Night Safari. The project is one of the favourite projects of Akhilesh.

The state government may follow the mode of public-private partnership for the bid invitation of development of the night Safari.

"The 102-acre land for the project will not require any land use change as it is already marked for recreational green. The project has already got statutory approvals from the Central Zoo Authority and the Supreme Court," Gupta said.

The project was proposed in 2005 by the Samajwadi Party government of Mulayam Singh Yadav but was stopped by the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The government has decided to restrict all the commercial constructions or housing projects within the safari area that will contain 60 percent animals from abroad and 40 percent from the Indian subcontinent.

A total number of 71 species of animals has been proposed for the project that includes, 58 species of mammals, eight species of birds, three species of reptiles and two species of gigantic lizards.

-With inputs from IANS