Context:
The Haryana government is proposing the world’s largest safari park in the Nuh and Gurugram districts of Haryana.
Aravali Safari Park Project
The Haryana government’s ambitious 3,858-hectare Aravali safari park project spread across Gurugram and Nuh is envisaged to be the world’s largest safari park.
- The Aravalli mountain series runs diagonally across Rajasthan extending from Champaner in Gujarat in the southwest to near Delhi in the northeast for about 690 km.
- A wildlife safari park is a tourist attraction where visitors can see animals roaming freely, either by driving their own cars or riding in provided vehicles. It’s like a zoo, but the animals have more space to move around.
Of the total 3,858 hectares proposed in the tender, 2,574 will be spread across 11 villages in Gurugram and the remaining 1,284 in seven villages of Nuh.
The park will have animal cages, guest houses, hotels, restaurants, auditoriums, an animal hospital, children’s parks, botanical gardens, aquariums, cable cars, a tunnel walk with exhibits, an open-air theatre and eateries.
It will ensure that the region’s groundwater is not depleted as Officials estimate that 10 cusecs of water will be needed for the first phase of development.
The project, announced in April 2022 by then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to develop a 10,000-acre zoo safari modelled on the line of UAE’s Sharjah Park.
This project will only be developed in areas where forest density is less than 40%.
Until 2023, a zoo safari would not have been considered a forest activity but the central government amended the Forest (Conservation) Act to bring it under the legal fold and allow zoos to be built in forest areas.
Concerns over the park
- A group of 37 retired Indian Forest Service officers have written a letter to the Prime Minister of India seeking to scrap the project arguing that the project aims to simply increase tourist footfall and not conserve the mountain range.
- Some experts suggested that instead of a safari park, the government should declare a national park or sanctuary in the Aravalis.
- The groundwater level in the two districts (Nuh and Gurugram) has been categorized as “over-exploited” by the Central Ground Water Board.