SoPs to be strictly followed, wearing of face mask mandatory, each garden, park will have sanitizers at entry points
Srinagar, July 07: The Jammu and Kashmir government today decided to re-open all the public parks and gardens across the Union Territory from tomorrow amid strict Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs)
The decision in this regard was taken in a review meeting chaired by Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan today. Khan while speaking to Kashmir News Observer, said that all the public parks and gardens shall re-open from tomorrow.
KNO was the first to break the news that UT administration was mulling to throw open gardens and parks across Kashmir and that SoPs were being framed.
“We have decided to re-open all the parks and gardens across Jammu and Kashmir from tomorrow. People are however, supposed to follow SoPs in spirit that include wearing of masks and maintaining social distancing,” he said, adding carrying a hand sanitizer is also part of the SoP. “Every person who visits the gardens or parks must carry a sanitizer with him/her. We will be having sanitizers at all the entry and exit points of each park and garden,” he said.
All the parks and gardens were closed for general public in March this year in wake of COVID-19 outbreak in Jammu and Kashmir, which has claimed over 139 lives and infected nearly 9,000 people so far. The first announcement of closure of parks and gardens in Srinagar was made by former Srinagar Municipal Corporation Mayor Junaid Azim Matoo on March 11.
People in Kashmir including the summer capital Srinagar have been visiting gardens in the past over a week during evening hours in the wake of rise in temperatures. The MeT department last week recorded 34.5 degrees Celsius day temperature, the season's hottest day. In summers especially in the peak months of July and August, people of Kashmir often visit parks and gardens during evening hours to relax and to calm down their nerves.
This year despite full bloom of dozens of varieties of Tulips, the Asia's largest Tulip garden remained deserted as no tourist or a local visitor could enter the garden due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Floriculture department suffered huge losses this year due to the closure of famous Tulip garden located in the lap of Zabarwan mountain range overlooking famous Dal Lake—(KNO)
