No safaris for 15 days

Hyderabad: Following Sunday’s safari bus breakdown incident, the authorities at the Nehru Zoological Park have suspended safari rides at the zoo for the next 15 days.

The zoo director has come down heavily on the contractor operating the bus service at the zoo and said that the current four buses will be replaced by six new buses in the next 15 days. 

P. Mallikarjuna Rao, the zoo  director, said that the bus breakdown had caused a major scare among people. He, however, clarified that his staff was ready to take all precautions to ensure the visitors’ safety.

“This is a contractual issue and we are not operating buses from Tuesday till everything is sorted out. There was no danger in the area where the bus broke down and the animal was at least a kilometre away.

We were cautious and took all the necessary precautions. Breakdown of the bus is a major issue and we are not going to start the safari till the new vehicles arrive. We will also not use vehicles which are in poor condition and have asked the contractor to introduce new vehicles,” he said.

The safari was started at the Nehru Zoological Park in 1972. It was using the Central zoo authority funds for more than two decades and later given out on contract to private parties.

“As far as I know, at least for the past one decade we have been running these buses on a contract basis, and we ensure that the buses are checked beforehand,” Mr Rao said.