Bank Note Paper Mill India contributes Rs. 70 lakh of Rs. 1.02 crore total project

Mysore/Mysuru: After briefly opening the orangutan enclosures in the first week of Dasara, the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens (Mysuru Zoo) has now fully thrown open the same for public viewing. The primates — two male and two female — were brought from Malaysia and Singapore under the international animal exchange programme.

Bank Note Paper Mill India, Mysuru (BNPM), contributed a sum of Rs. 70 lakh under its CSR initiative for constructing the enclosure for orangutans. The construction was completed recently and yesterday, the enclosures were inaugurated by Tripti Patra Ghosh, Chairperson, BNPM and CMD, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

The formal inauguration took place in the presence of Zoo Authority of Karnataka Member-Secretary B.P. Ravi, Zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni, Chairman L.R. Mahadevaswamy and directors and senior officials from the BNPM. The primate-friendly enclosures were built at a cost of Rs. 1.02 crore and of this, Rs. 70 lakh was contributed by BNPM. 

Tripti Patra Ghosh opined that it was a matter of pride for BNPM to contribute Rs. 70 lakh for the orangutan enclosure and also the Mysuru Zoo has achieved a rare distinction of being the only Zoo in India to have the orangutans. She lauded the Mysuru Zoo authorities for efficiently using the BNPM grant to scientifically build the enclosures.

While 17-year-old male Merlin and 13-year-old female Atina arrived from Singapore Zoo, five-year-old male Afa and 7-year-old female Minnie were brought from Malaysia Zoo. As part of the inauguration, the cage of Atina was opened first but the orangutan did not come out while Merlin ventured out and stared at humans for some time through the glass partition. Later it clung on to a tree branch.

 The guests were later led to the enclosures of Afa and Minnie where fruits, cashew, grapes and almonds were fed to the primates.

Gorilla enclosures getting ready

Along with the orangutans, two gorillas — 14-year-old Thabo and 8-year-old Demba — were brought in August this year from Germany and are currently in quarantine. Zoo authorities told Star of Mysore that these gorillas have not yet adjusted to the Zoo atmosphere and the people around.

Care is being taken to acclimatise the primates to the atmosphere and human sounds. Dedicated animal-keeper has been assigned to take care of the gorillas and their health is being regularly monitored,  they said.

Zoo Executive Director Ajit M. Kulkarni said that the two male gorillas would be open to public display as soon as the construction of the enclosure with funds from the Infosys Foundation is complete. “Works on the enclosures are on and we hope to inaugurate the enclosure and public display of gorillas next month. Infosys Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murty has generously contributed for the construction of the gorilla house,” he added.

ZAK members Gokul Govardhan and Jyothi Rechanna, BNPM Managing Director K.G. Viswanathan, Directors Dr. A.G. Kulkarni and Sudhir Sahu, Director of BNPM and Director (HR) of SPMCIL S.K. Sinha, Director of  BNPM and General Manager of Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) S. Thalikerappa, General Manager (F&A) K. Dharani Kumara, General Manager (Tech) Ananta Hegde, General Manager (HR & Admin) Abhaya Kumar Mahapatro, Company Secretary Lakshmisha Babu, Dy. Manager-Civil S.A. Raghavendra, Managers Vadiraj Kulkarni and B. Venkatesh, Dy. Manager Gopal Krishna and BNPM Officer Amogh were present.