Coronavirus outbreak: Borivli, 5 other national parks, 49 sanctuaries closed till March 31

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivli and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary will be shut for visitors till the end of the month, the forest department announced

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivli and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary will be shut for visitors till the end of the month, the forest department announced on Monday.

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The directions have been issued to check the spread of Covid-19 by avoiding large public gatherings.

“Since Monday was a routine holiday, we have decided to close the park for visitors from Tuesday till March 31 as of now,” said Anwar Ahmed, director and chief conservator of forest, SGNP. “For the past one week, all staff members had been provided sanitisers and masks for their safety. Now that the park is being shut, we expect hardly any congregation of people in and around the park.”

Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forest (mangrove cell), said, “For the safety of citizens, the Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Centre (CMBC) in Airoli and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary will remain closed from Tuesday till March 31 for the time being.”

While SGNP gets an average of 8,000 visitors per day, the flamingo sanctuary and biodiversity centre has approximately 200 people visiting per day for boat rides. “A 50% reduction in visitors has been witnessed over the past three days,” said Nathuram Kokare, range forest officer (flamingo sanctuary).

The chief wildlife warden, Maharashtra, said the temporary closure of SGNP was of prime importance. “We intend to avoid any kind of panic or fear psychosis. SGNP has maximum tourist footfall and numbers had further increased over the past few days after the closure of malls, theatres, etc,” said Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), Maharashtra.

On Monday evening, Kakodkar issued a notice that all 49 wildlife sanctuaries, including tiger reserves, and six national parks across the state will be closed for visitors till March 31. “Some of the district collectors have already issued orders for the shutting down of major sanctuaries, and for those sanctuaries, we will go by the dates mentioned by them. While SGNP, CMBC and Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary will be closed from Tuesday, we have issued directions for shutting down other sanctuaries across Maharashtra from March 18 (Wednesday) onwards till March 31. The closure may be extended depending on the situation,” said Kakodkar.