With winters turning harsh in the plains of north India, the wild animals in the Chhatbir Zoo face a problem of gigantic magnitute. The suppliers of their diet have threatened to stop the supplies if the payments are not made immediately. North India’s popular zoo has not been able to pay the outstanding bills of suppliers and contractors for meat, fodder, vegetables, fruits and other diet supplements or vitamins for the last three months.
Now, these suppliers have threatened to stop the supply if they don’t get their outstanding as soon as possible. Sources said that all financial bills of the zoo are pending in the Treasury office of Punjab for the last three months and are yet to be passed due to financial crunch in Punjab and also because of red tapism. The situation has turned so grim that the basic items for sustenance of animals are being procured on personal repute of the officials or staff with the supplier on credit basis.
“The animals are innocent. How would they know about financial crunch. They need daily food and are like our own kids. We can’t take any risk and have to feed them one way or the other,” said a zoo keeper. When contacted, Field Director of the Zoo, Manish Kumar, admitted that there is some financial problem in the zoo. “Some of our pending bills are yet to get passed in the treasury office of Punjab”, he said, adding that these would be passed soon.
Chhatbir Zoo has more than 1,100 wild animals, birds and reptiles including of endangered species. It needs `20 lakh every month on the diet or food alone, besides meeting other expenses. `5 lakh is spent every month on animals’ management, `4 lakh on routine maintenance, `4 lakh on electricity bill and `2 lakh on land related works here on monthly basis.For the last one year, all bills including diet of animals are being passed by the treasury office, which is often late to pass it, said a staff on the condition of anonymity.
The funding to the zoo authorities starts after the financial year on quarterly basis. But the supply of diet to the animals remains constant, hence money is required to pay the bills of suppliers and contractors. Meanwhile, sources said even the employees of the Zoo, including field director, do not get salary on time.Chhatbir Zoo has more than 250 employees (150 regular and 100 daily wagers). All employees have to wait more than two months to get their salary, due to ongoing financial crunch. last year, 20 employees retired and the zoo is facing 30 per cent shortage of required staff.