Contractor fired after penguin’s death at zoo bags ‘same’ contract
MUMBAI: Two years after one of the Humboldt penguins, Dory, died at Byculla zoo, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) renewed the contract of the agency responsible for maintaining the enclosure. The civic body renewed the contract of Highway Construction in August.
In addition, the agency also bagged a ₹60 crore contract to build other animal enclosures. Following the flak BMC faced after Dory’s death in 2016, the civic body had cancelled the contract it had allotted to the agency back then.
The new proposal to renew the contract (worth ₹11 crore) to maintain the penguin enclosure for 36 months will be tabled before the standing committee this week.
A civic official said, “We are happy the way agency has maintained the penguin enclosure and the food and medical attention penguins are getting. Moreover, the agency is the lowest bidder for the tender we floated.”
The renewed contract to maintain the existing penguin enclosure includes life-support system on stand-by, maintaining temperature, providing food and medical aid to the penguins. Romin Chheda from Highway Construction said, “We bid for the contract as per rules and emerged as the lowest bidder. There was confusion with BMC earlier, but the issue has been resolved. My company has been maintaining the penguin enclosures without complaints from the civic body. We also bagged the contract to construct some more animal enclosures.”