Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam announced in the state assembly on Friday that 200 acres of the Aarey dairy will be acquired for the international zoo at Goregaon.
The project will be implemented by the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra on the build- operate -transfer (BOT) basis.
He said that the long pending proposal will now be expedited as the land hitch has been resolved.
“The dairy development department has agreed to hand over 200acres to the forest department for the zoo. The project has been finalised and it will be brought before the cabinet in next couple of weeks for the final nod,” he said.
According to the officials from the forest department, the zoo has been planned on 400 acres land, of which 200acre belong to Aarey and the rest will be from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park owned by the forest department.
Since the national zoo authority does not allow the commercial activities on forest land, commercial exploitation will be on the land acquired from the Aarey dairy.
The issue was discussed during the private member bill moved
by BJP legislator Girish Bapat in the state assembly on Friday. Bapat alleged that the green cover in the state was dwindling rapidly and the government needs to take up the issue very seriously.
He said that nearly 40,000 trees were felled in Thane and Raidgad districts in last two years.
