Inaugurating the park here, Mamata Banerjee said, "The safari park, North Bengal Wild Animals Park, has been set up on 300 hectares and this project is worth Rs 250 crore out of which Rs 80 crore has already been spent. This safari park is a new feather in the cap of North Bengal which is just 8 km away from Siliguri town. We will provide free passes for the tourists, who are visiting the safari park in the first month."

"We are building the smart cities Teesta City in North Bengal, Gitabitan in Bolpur and Agnibeena in Asansol and Sister Nivedita’s house in Darjeeling have also been conserved as a heritage structure," Banerjee further said.

One wildlife official told IBNS, "The safari park houses various animals including sambar deer, barking deer, spotted deer (chital), rhino (male), wild boars, jungle fowl, jungle cats, golden and silver pheasants. Few other animals like swamp deer, another rhino (female) and bisons would be brought here very soon. By the end of this year, the park would house about 250 herbivores and carnivores."

"The safari park, spread over an area of 700 acres, has animals in the open, and the tourists would be taken on trips in covered vehicles," he further said.

Banerjee is in North Bengal for a four-day trip.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)