Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today inaugurated the state's second biological park in Jodhpur and took a ride in an open vehicle to savour its natural beauty and wildlife.
Spread over 41 hectares of land, the park named Machia Biological Park serves as a habitat for a slew of wild animals and a perfect hangout for nature enthusiasts.
DFO (Widlife) Mahendra Singh Rathore said that the park has 20 animal enclosures and almost all are occupied.
"Now we are striving to bring a pair of lions and tigers from Junagarh and Bengaluru respectively," he said.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 32.43 crore, the park took about 6 years to complete and was closed for the past few months, despite being ready to receive visitors, awaiting the inauguration by the Chief Minister.
"The park boasts of a range of facilities which include a reception centre, resting shelters, cafeteria,drinking water and toilets, Interpretation Centre, path wayapart fromparking, administrative section, veterinary hospital and so on," Rathore noted.
He further said that the people of the city had been desperately waiting for doors of the park to be opened and they had consistently been inquiring about its opening.
The desperation of the visitors was evident when a large number of visitors queued up at the entrance of the park immediately after its inauguration.
"About 500 visitors visited the park after they heard of its inauguration ceremony on Wednesday," said Rathore.
The park will remain open on all days except Tuesdays, besides August 15 and January 26.
The venue will also be available for shooting documentary and films at a reasonable fee of Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.
