BENGALURU: If you have a day off and are planning a visit to the government aquarium located at Cubbon Park in the city, you might well think twice. The Government aquarium, also called the Bangalore aquarium, was inaugurated in 1983 and is said to be India’s second largest one.
But it is currently in bad shape due to lack of maintenance. The roof of the aquarium has developed cracks and is peeling from the outside, while inside the ceiling is broken with paint peeling off. It does not even have proper facility to ensure circulation of water and regulate temperature.
Shashank Dixit, a visitor from Delhi, said, “Most of the tanks are empty and the paints are peeling off. Why are they not maintaining it.” “Very bad lighting and many plates are missing. What’s the use of coming, lf someone like me who doesn’t know about fishes can’t even get to know,” complained Jeevan Raj, another visitor from Kerala.
Vikas, assistant director at the aquarium, said, “We don’t have a facility like LLS (Life Supporting System) which provides automatic circulation of water and temperature. We’ve to do it manually, which is tedious and requires labour.”
Recalling a recent incident he said the water channel was cut off for 25 days and there was no water. “Later, after several calls to BWSSB, it was repaired. We have given a proposal about having LLS to the government and I’m hoping we will soon have that system,” Vikas said. A sum of Rs 6 lakh has been allocated for the repair work, which would start soon, he added.
The aquarium does not even have an official website and the information provided by a private websites is inaccurate. According to the marine mammal conservation network of India, there are at least 120 species of marine mammal found in the world with a fourth of these found in India. However marine mammal research in India is still very basic and is a low priority area.
