GUWAHATI, Aug 19 - Next time you are planning to visit the Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden, you need not stand in a queue to purchase the entry tickets. You just need to log on to https://zoo.forestassam.net and purchase the e-ticket.
�We have launched this system from today. Online tickets can be purchased easily using any of the online modes of payment. With this, visitors will no longer have to stand in long queues,� Zoo DFO Tejas Mariswamy said.
There are three counters at the Zoo gate, but not all of them remain functional all the time, which causes inconvenience to visitors as they have to spend a lot of time standing in the queues.
Under the e-ticketing system, it would be mandatory to bring a soft copy or a printout of the e-ticket at the time of visiting the Zoo. The visitors will get the ticket via email. However, it can also be downloaded later from the portal in case one does not get it via email. The price of the ticket is the same.
The State Zoo is registering around 1,000-1,200 visitors on average this month.
Meanwhile, Guwahati Refinery has committed to undertake three CSR projects at the Zoo � installing two container-based and portable hydroponic units, each having a production capacity of 500 kg fodder grass per day, a biometric attendance terminal and a gun tranquillizer cabinet. An MoU is likely to be signed soon for the projects.
The Assam State Zoo had recently acquired a pair of Asiatic Lions from the Sakkarbaug Zoo, Gujarat. A golf cart, which remained non-functional for some time, was restarted again a few days back.
The State Zoo is also expected to get a pair of giraffes in a couple of months.
The Central Zoo Authority has approved an exchange programme between the State Zoo and the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Patna. Under the programme, the Patna zoo will give a female giraffe, three gharials and three swamp deer.
In return, the State Zoo will give away a rhino, a black leopard and eight sangai deer. That lone giraffe at the State Zoo here had died in 2014.
Forest officials admitted that the giraffe and the chimpanzee are the main attractions of a zoo, and the State facility had suffered due to absence of both the animals for a long time. The Zoo will also get a male giraffe from Mysore. The idea is to get genetically improved offspring from the giraffes belonging to different families.
