Congress threatens to stop penguin inauguration

MUMBAI: Congress MLA Nitesh Rane has threatened that his party would not let the Humboldt penguin project to be inaugurated till the ongoing inquiry report on the alleged irregularities committed by the project contractor is made public.
BMC plans to open the Humboldt penguins, currently at Mumbai’s Byculla zoo, for public viewing either from the end of this month or next month.However Rane said that his party would protest in every way possible.
On Monday, Rane alongwith the opposition party leader in the BMC Pravin Chheda met the BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta. “The entire project is a big sham. If the BMC still goes ahead and inaugurates it then we should not be blamed in case of a law and order situation being created. We have already conveyed to the administration our stand. It is very unfortunate that Universal Organics — the coordinator for the penguin project has also been appointed as the project management consultant for the bird park BMC plans to develop at Powai,” said Rane further alleging that the Shiv Sena — the ruling party in the BMC — only seems to be standing with the corrupt people.
Humboldt penguins. (file photo)
The leader of the opposition Pravin Chheda further added that Ms Universal Organics has in the past already cheated the civic body by fraudulently labelling Chinese-made anaesthesia machines as British-manufactured equipment. “Despite this the company has been appointed as consultant by the BMC for developing the bird park. This is completely uncalled for,” said Chheda.
Eight Humboldt penguins were brought to the Byculla zoo from Coex Aquaeium, Seoul in South Korea on July 2016 and even before they could be put up for public viewing, one of them died on October 23 last year.
The penguins brought are presently kept in a quarantine facility. The move to import the cold-habitat birds into tropical Mumbai was criticized by environmentalists.