(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, July 24 (IANS) Former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar, who parted ways with the party last year over differences on the R.G. Kar rape & murder issue, on Thursday, sought clarifications from the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on vanishing animals from Kolkata's iconic zoological garden, which also happens to be the oldest zoological garden of the country.

He also launched a scathing attack against the West Bengal government, accusing the latter of putting up for auction a portion of the said zoological garden located at Alipore in South Kolkata.

"What is happening at Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata? According to their own calculations, the number of animals and birds has halved in a year. In 1996, there were 1872 animals; now there are 351! In other words, is it being stolen or smuggled?" Sircar raised this question in a social media post that he made on Thursday.

Incidentally, a petition has been filed at the Calcutta High Court by a city-based voluntary organisation, Swazon, seeking an investigation into the alleged overnight disappearance of over 300 animals from the records of Alipore Zoological Garden in a year, which is the oldest zoo in the country.

It has been claimed in the petition that the number of animals in the zoo was 672 at the end of the financial year of 2023-24, and it came down to 351 by the beginning of 2024-25.

The voluntary organisation also claimed that the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) last month posted an e-tender inviting bids for the auction of a piece of land on 34A, Belvedere Road, Alipore, for commercial use.

Sircar, who is a former India Administrative Service (IAS) officer, also claimed in this post that instead of improving the condition of the zoo, the state government was going to auction a large piece of land belonging to it.

“There is a veterinary hospital and many important buildings here. This land is said to be sold for a privately owned marine park. That's great, but why here? In whose interest is this?" Sircar questioned.

He further demanded transparency over the matter as the development appeared confusing. "I also want to know the exact number of animals and birds and what is being done to improve the zoo," he added.

So far, neither the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) nor the West Bengal Zoo Authority (WBZA) has issued any public statement or filed any report to address these discrepancies.

IANS

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