Accumulated water inside Madhusudan Nagar Deer park in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 16: A high-level committee consisting of forest officials and wildlife experts today visited Madhusudan Nagar Deer Park to look into the existing infrastructure and problems confronting the park.

The four-member committee headed by S.K. Sinha, director (operations), Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC), underlined the importance of better management of the deer park.

The Telegraph had highlighted the plight of the deer because of waterlogging inside the park in the absence of proper drainage channels on August 9. The committee pushed for urgent measures to resolve the accumulation of water and problem of overcrowding at the only deer park in Cuttack.

The park was established across two acres in 1981 with only six deer. It now has 132 of them.

“There is scope for development of the park and today, we conducted an inspection and will soon submit our report to the state government,” said Sinha, adding that the committee was formed by the state government following instructions of the Central Zoo Authority of India. The panel also includes Nadankanan director Sudarshan Panda, conservator of forest and wildlife P.R. Karat and Hirakud range divisional forest officer Manoj Nair.

“During the monsoon, there is accumulation of water inside the park that is maintained by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC). The officials concerned are now trying to set things right. We hope that the authorities initiate concrete measures to prevent waterlogging soon,” said Nandankanan director Sudarshan Panda.

Panda said the deer park was overcrowded and the CMC officials had put up a temporary barricade to segregate the male and the female animals. A CMC official said that steps were being taken to establish a second deer park in the city to resolve the issue of overpopulation here.

“Based on the findings and final recommendation of the committee, steps would be taken to develop the deer park,” said CMC secretary Laxmidhar Nath. He also said the corporation had decided to raise the ground level of the park to check the issue of waterlogging. There were also plans to set up new fences and benches for visitors.

All these are likely to be finalised at the next CMC council meeting, Nath said.