Barang: The Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) and the Botanical Garden here witnessed huge footfalls on the occasion of Christmas Day Tuesday.
NZP sources said altogether 34,914 visitors thronged the zoo, helping it earn around Rs 14.82 lakh as revenue. It is learnt that altogether 638 visitors to NZP purchased tickets online.
“At least 11,286 more people visited the NZP in comparison with last year’s Christmas Day. However, we had a whopping 40,000 visitors in 2014,” said a zoo official.
The zoo authorities made special arrangements to manage the crowd. They opened a few more ticket counters and facilitated the entry of visitors through two additional gates at NZP.
“We put restrictions on the entry of vehicles into the zoo. Loudspeakers were used to provide necessary information to the visitors,” said the official.
The Commissionerate Police deployed four platoons of armed police personnel the zoo to ensure safe visit to the tourists. “Fire brigade and ODRAF personnel were deployed to tackle untoward incidents. A few police personnel in mufti were also deployed at some strategic places to check pick-pocketing. There were proper arrangement for drinking water and first aid,” the official said.
NZP deputy director Jayanta Kumar Das, Nandankanan police in-charge Rabindranath Meher and assistant conservators of forests (ACFs) Anjan Kumar Mohanty, Amulya Kumar Parida and Samir Kumar Sahu managed the crowd, sources said.
Similarly, altogether 1,708 tourists visited Botanical Garden. “The garden authorities collected Rs 68,960 revenue. This year we received 748 more visitors on Christmas as compared to the last year’s,” said an official of the garden.
