Drive-in planned in zoo safaris

hyderabad: with the tiger and lions safari in the nehru zoological park drawing a large number of visitors, the authorities have decided to facilitate visitors to drive in the safari complex in enclosed vehicles. in the last 10 months, revenue to the zoo has doubled, considering the increase in visitors, said zoo conservator a v joseph. the zoo will lay roads leading to the interiors of the tiger and lion safari, so that the 20-seater vehicle carrying the visitors can move around easily.the tiger safari, in a 45-acre land, has 45 tigers, including the three nine-month old tiger cubs, while the lion safari, in a 35-acre land, has 18 lions including four lion cubs, he said. apart from that, the safari complex includes the bear and bisons, he said. in the safari complex, the road will be laid in a stretch of 7 km, of which two kilometres will be concrete and the rest plain roads merging with the environment. the work on the 2 km stretch is progressing and will be completed in a week's time, according to joseph. the cost of laying concrete on a 2-km stretch will be rs 16 lakh. laying concrete in another 5-km stretch would cost around rs 60 lakh to rs 70 lakh which the zoo authorities say they cannot afford. as an alternative, it has been decided to lay coal-tar on the stretch, said assistant engineer of the zoo, p jalapathi rao. three tiger cubs at the animal house — soni, rozer and neel — with their mother munni, have become a major attraction at the zoo. but as the tigress saki was killed on october 11 last, her brother nikhil roars at visitors. much more ferocious is rahul, the older tiger and father of nikhil.