RIL’s Jamnagar zoo to come up in two years

Senior officials say that the zoo may not be largest in terms of area but may have the largest variety of animals

The Reliance Industries Limited is said to have received approvals from the central government to build what is claimed to be the “world’s biggest zoo” in Jamnagar where the company’s refinery complex is also located. A company official said that the zoo will be ready in two years and will be open for the public.

“World’s biggest zoo is going to come up at Jamnagar in Gujarat. This zoo is being developed by Reliance Industries and it will be called “Greens Zoological, Rescue & Rehabilitation Kingdom”. All the required approvals from concerned central and state government authorities have been received. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, work on this project has been delayed. We hope to have this zoo ready in two years’ time,” said Parimal Nathwani, Director-Corporate Affairs, RIL and a Rajya Sabha MP.

He said that the rescue centre at Jamnagar is separate from the zoo project which is not open for public. The rescue centre is a CSR initiative of RIL and it is to support the forest department so as to keep big carnivores like leopards who are injured or in conflict with humans. This centre recently received 12 leopards from the forest department for their upkeep.

On Friday, M K Das, additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister’s office, also mentioned briefly that “world’s biggest zoo is also coming up in Jamnagar.” He said this during a presentation on Gujarat at a virtual conference “ASSOCHAM Foundation Week”.

Senior officials said that the zoo may not be the “biggest in the world” in terms of area but it will house “biggest variety of birds and animals.” The Jamnagar zoo will be spread in over 250 acres of land.