Dare visit the zoo on weekends!

IF YOU?RE planning to visit Lucknow Zoo on weekends, drop the idea. Major encroachment by vendors may prevent you from even getting inside the zoo on Saturday and Sunday.

IF YOU’RE planning to visit Lucknow Zoo on weekends, drop the idea. Major encroachment by vendors may prevent you from even getting inside the zoo on Saturday and Sunday.

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This Saturday was no different. Vendors selling paan masala, camera rolls, batteries, tea stalls et al covered a major part of the road leading to the zoo. Several of them have extended their makeshift shops by putting up rate lists, banners, placards etc with scant regard for commuters’ problems.

The zoo administration has complained to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) and local police but to no avail as the encroachments return after every anti-encroachment drive, thanks to local goons. Many of these vendors even misbehave with girls.

After encroachments by the vendors whatever little space is left for the traffic movement, is gobbled up by the rickshaw-pullers, tongawallahs and auto rickshaws.

Buses ferrying school children to the zoo too, add to the congestion. The local residents too, are almost ‘locked in’ on weekends with hardly any space on the road.

Municipal Commissioner Santosh Kumar says, “The LMC has carried out a drive several times but unless a proper policy to check vendors is formulated by the State Government, little can be done. We’ll try and do what we can at the zoo.”