Mumbai: Humboldts penguins still stay homeless

The penguins have been in quarantine since last July. Pic/Bipin Kokate

With just days to go before both parties fight for the mayor's chair, it looks like the BJP has once again managed to clip Shiv Sena's wings by allegedly delaying the inauguration of the much awaited Humboldt penguin exhibit.

Bringing Humboldt penguins to Byculla Zoo was the pet project of the Sena, particularly Yuva Sena chief, Aaditya Thackeray. mid-day had first reported on March 1 that Mayor Snehal Ambekar had written to the BMC commissioner to allow the opening of the exhibit. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was invited to inaugurate it on March 6, two days before the mayoral elections. But this plan was nipped in the bud after the BMC's Zoo and Building Maintenance department said they could not move the penguins to the exhibit space because of the "poor water quality".

Blame game
On Friday, a team of Standing Committee members, led by chairman Yashodhar Phanse, visited Byculla zoo to check on the progress of the enclosure work. During the visit, officials from the zoo department explained that it will take at least another week to shift penguins there, since the water was of poor quality and it would be risky to keep the delicate birds in that environment.

After the visit, disappointed leader of the party in BMC, Trushna Vishwasrao, said, "Last week, civic officials had told us to visit on Friday and had assured us that the penguins would be shifted to the enclosure by this time."

Targeting the BJP, Vishwasrao added, "The delay is due to political pressure. The administration has cited the penguins' health as the reason, which no one can argue against. Everybody knows that bringing penguins to the city was Sena's idea. This is nothing but another party's attempt to usurp a project initiated by the Sena. But ultimately, the Sena, and none other, will inaugurate it."

'Pressure from BJP'
Leader of Opposition, Pravin Chheda (Congress), also visited the zoo and echoed the same sentiments, blaming BJP for the delay. "The work of the penguin enclosure was supposed to complete by December. Officials are now telling us that the water quality is not good enough, so we will have to wait for a few more days. In fact, the BMC was using tanker water to fill the enclosure. This is nothing but a deliberate attempt to delay the opening, under pressure from the BJP," said Chheda.

BJP says
BJP group leader in BMC, Manoj Kotak, said, "I don't understand why they are blaming BJP for the delay of the public opening of the penguin enclosure, since we don't have any role in it. It is the administration's decision to allow the opening. Those who are blaming us should first answer for the dead penguin. Why did the aquatic bird die if they made sure that everything was in place? They are hurrying to open the penguin exhibit but they are not serious about the safety of the birds."