On Monday, November 29, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee approved a Rs 15-crore proposal for three years of maintenance of the penguin habitat at Byculla zoo, as per a report by TOI. The penguins, owned by the Mumbai Zoo, were brought in from Seoul, South Korea, in July 2016 by the current Cabinet Minister of Tourism and Environment for the Government of Maharashtra, Aaditya Thackeray for Rs. 2.5 crores.
Mumbai: BMC okays Rs 15cr tender for penguin upkeep https://t.co/kuo1TEgvAd
— TOI Mumbai (@TOIMumbai) November 29, 2021
The proposal, according to the media outlet, was approved by a Shiv Sena-led panel, despite the BJP’s opposition to the spending, claiming that the cost of upkeep was too expensive and alleged irregularities in giving the contract to tainted companies. Interestingly, the proposal to spend the whopping sum to recreate a natural habitat from the penguins was not only opposed by BJP but Shiv Sena’s ally Congress too. Congress had criticised BMC over the tender worth Rs.15 crores+, terming the project a waste of money.
Meanwhile, justifying its decision to sanction the hefty sum for the habitat maintenance of the penguins, BMC claimed that after the penguins were brought in 2017, revenue from the zoo was jumped by Rs 12.26 crores. The number of visitors climbed by roughly 30% after the penguin exhibit opened in March 2017, while revenue soared by nearly 500% after the BMC raised the price of entry tickets drastically that same year.
BJP Corporator Vinod Mishra claimed that the “tenders were rigged to favour only one company, which had been penalised in the past. The penguins have adjusted to Mumbai but our BMC staff still don’t know how to take care of them and the zoo has been forced to appoint a private company for their care. The per-day cost is Rs1,06,613 now which will go up to Rs 1,39,282 per day. This is a 30% increase in present rates. Only Rs3.16 crore was allocated in the budget but now they are spending 63% per year more. We will move the court on this,” said Mishra.
New controversy erupts surrounding the penguins bought by BMC
Recently, the Mumbai Zoo has issued a tender worth Rs. 15.15 crores to recreate the natural habitat of the penguins in an enclosure. As per reports, the new habitat would spread over 35,000 square feet of area and will be a two-storey structure. To ensure the health and well-being of the birds, the temperature of the whole enclosure should be maintained between 16 degrees Celsius to 18 degrees Celsius. The water temperature in the pond would remain between 11 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees Celsius. Such conditions require huge costs and have attracted yet another controversy.
BMC justifies the tender cost for the upkeep of penguins
BMC, on the other hand, have been trying to justify the cost since the controversy erupted. They said that it would include the cost of veterinary charges, fodder cost, air conditioning and ventilation system, exhibit maintenance and quarantine area. It further added that the new enclosure is essential to ensure the birds live. Otherwise, according to BMC, their lives would be at risk.
Why Aditya Thackeray was nicknamed ‘baby penguin’
As most are aware that the bringing in of penguins to the Mumbai zoo was the idea of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray. Thanks to the controversies these penguins have generated in recent years, Aaditya Thackeray has been nicknamed “Baby Penguin”. Interestingly, every now and then, the hashtag keeps surfacing on social media platforms.
Last year, a man named Sameet Thakkar was detained after a complaint was lodged against him for calling Aaditya Baby Penguin on social media. After several weeks of controversy, he was freed from prison in November.
