Asia's largest Tulip Garden at Srinagar stands open today for people. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha performed the opening ceremony of the mesmerising beauty of 16 Lakh tulip flowers.
Last year, an unprecedented 3.60 lakh tourists visited the Tulip Garden, and I believe the number will further increase this year, he noted.
The Lt Governor acknowledged the efforts of hundreds of gardeners and workers engaged in the tulip garden and making it majestic.
The Lt Governor directed the Vice Chancellor of SKUAST Kashmir to make arrangements for growing Tulip's planting material in J&K instead of relying on imports. The effort will ensure that J&K is able to tap the Rs 400 Cr market of Tulips in the country, he said.
A record 1.88 crore tourists visited Jammu Kashmir last year. This year, in the first two months 3.70 lakh tourists came to J&K which benefitted lakhs of families associated with the tourism sector. Sanasar Tulip Garden with 2.75 lakh tulip bulbs of 25 varieties will also welcome the tourists coming to the region, said the Lt Governor.
On the occasion, the Lt Governor inaugurated 175 meters long extension of the water channel at the 4th and 5th terraces of Tulip Garden extending the existing 300-meter water channel to 475 meters and a high-rise fountain at the 5th terrace.
The Daffodil Park in the central lawn area has also been developed and the illumination of the Garden added to the attraction of the visitors. An online ticketing facility for smooth and hassle-free ticketing is also in place to facilitate visitors and avoid any inconvenience.
A ramp has been created at the exit gate and path along with where wheelchairs were parked for the convenience of specially-abled and senior citizens.
Later in the evening, Manoj Sinha inaugurated Aerator cum Dancing Fountains in the world-famous Dal Lake today.
The Aerator cum Dancing Fountains is installed in six clusters along the periphery of the Dal Lake. The project has been completed by J&K Lakes Conservation and Management Authority (LC&MA) at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore, with an aim to attract tourists. It will add beauty and grandeur to the lake.
The clusters of the aerators have pre-programmed different patterns of formations viz high jet, mist formation, trumpet formation with changing colours for providing scintillating visuals.
The cumulative length of all five each clusters is about 500 meters. Each set of clusters is housed with two hundred nozzles on average to build up different pattern formations, creating and adding a unique beauty to the surroundings, besides improving the quality of lake water.
The dominating and scintillating part of this project is that one of the fountains/aerators is called by the name “High Jet”, the first of its kind in the country 79 meters long.
It has a unique characteristic of shooting up the water to an aerial vertical distance with a mist formation in the higher zone – with changing colours which will not only improve the aeration quality of the water of the lake but will add to the lake aesthetics and shall attract the public in general.
