Cuttack, June 15: The officials of the municipal corporation have identified a patch of land for the proposed second deer park at Uttamapur on the city outskirts.

The two acres of land belonging to the irrigation department has been identified near Subhadrarapur, which falls under ward No. 56, nearly 8km from the Link road.

"We are hopeful that the fresh patch of land will house the second deer park. The officials of the civic body visited the spot," said A. Sridevi, chairperson of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation's standing committee on park and plantations.

"Once the land is transferred to the corporation, the work for the development of infrastructure for the proposed park will surely begin," Sridevi said.

Official sources said the authorities had earlier identified a patch of land at Bhadimula but it was not found suitable as the site was prone to floods. It was situated along the banks of the Mahanadi.

Corporation officials said the process to identify the site for the second deer park was expedited after officials of the Central Zoo Authority asked the corporation to relocate the excess deer from the existing facility at Madhusudan Nagar in 2009. However, the second deer park project so far was hanging in balance owing to land hurdles for the last six years.

At present, the Madhusudan Nagar facility is over-crowded, as the total deer population has crossed 170. The existing deer park that is spread over 2.5 acres was established to keep only six deer in 1981.

"Everyone in our ward is happy that a deer park will be built at Uttamapur since the Madhusudan Nagar park is overpopulated," said Sanjay Kumar Baral, councillor of ward No. 56.

Baral said the revenue inspector had already submitted a detailed report to the tehsildar and the process for the transfer of the land would be completed shortly.

"The second deer park at Uttamapur will usher in development in the region. It will pave way for more welfare projects here," said Sashikant Rout, a local resident.

During an inspection of the Madhusudan Nagar deer park in December, B.G. Mugadur, the former director of the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens in Mysore had also advised the civic body to set up the second park at the earliest. He also stressed on checking the deer population growth.