Monkey-business at Dehiwela zoo ticket counter

An employee of the National Zoological Gardens in Dehiwela was interdicted and several others are being investigated after a racket involving the fraudulent sale of tickets to visitors was uncovered last Friday.

The racket came to light following a complaint by a Buddhist monk from the Pitigala Temple in Galle. The monk had visited the Zoo on Thursday (September 20) along with 70 nursery school students, 101 adults which included mainly the parents of the children and five teachers.

The monk told the Sunday Times that the group had arrived at the Zoo around 3 p.m., just three hours before closing time and a man at the ticket counter had asked that one person remain outside to pay for the tickets while the rest of the group proceeded inside.

The monk who decided to stay behind had noticed that a female employee who had been at the counter had gone off duty after their arrival. The man who took her place at the counter had told the monk that the cost of the tickets would be Rs. 12, 900. The monk too made a calculation and it too tallied.

However, according to the monk the employee had then told him that he would give the tickets at a discounted rate and asked him to pay just Rs. 8,000.

The monk had paid the money but was then told that the book of tickets was over and hence he could not issue any tickets. When the monk had insisted that he at least be given a receipt to show details of the expenses to the temple’s dayaka sabha , the man at the counter had said he could not do that either.

The monk made a note of the man’s mobile phone number and said he would call him later regarding the receipt.

When he informed the teachers in the group about the incident, they told him that in two previous years when they visited the zoo, a similar thing had happened to them but they had not pursued the matter.

After returning to Galle, the monk had called the Zoo employee and told him that he was interested in bringing another group and inquired whether he could get a discounted rate. The employee had told him to come and meet him and that he would make arrangements for them to enter the Zoo by paying a discounted rate.

Armed with this information the monk lodged a complaint with a director of the Zoo. He had also volunteered to handover a recording of the conversation he had with the employee, the monk told the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, Economic Development Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said the incident had been brought to his attention and that action would be taken against those found involved in the racket.

“We were unaware that this kind of activity was taking place. We started making a small profit from last year but we need an income to maintain the Zoo and feed the animals,” he said.

He said an employee has been interdicted following the compliant by the Director and an inquiry will be held on Monday to ascertain who else was involved in the racket.