People throng parks, gardens this Eid Seek free entry in view of festivities; authorities cite reservations

Srinagar : A significant number of people visited the parks and gardens on this Eid-ul-Adha, with the visitors urging the authorities for free complimentary entry in view of the festival.

“I, along with my family, went to a park, but I had to wait in a queue for around 30 minutes to get a ticket. Why can’t the government make it a free entry on this Eid festival,” Shabir Ahmad, a Srinagar resident,

Shabir said he doesn’t mind paying entry charges but the huge rush and long queues for entry tickets is what troubled him.

“Families like to visit parks but getting a ticket is challenging due to the rush as people have to stand in long queues in this hot weather. It would have been better had the government made free entry during these festive days,” he said.

Citing reservations about making such a decision, a senior official at the Floriculture Department told  that they have already outsourced many of the gardens and can’t ask them for free entry. He, however, said there are many gardens and parks in the valley where entry is already free.

“The entry charges in the parks and gardens are not so high, they are very nominal. We have already outsourced many gardens and parks and this time we can’t ask them to make a free or any complimentary entry for any specific day,” he said.

The official said that in Srinagar alone, they have many gardens and parks and parking lots which have free entry and apart from the outsourced gardens and parks, there are many which are directly under their control.

“There are many parks where we don’t charge anything for entry like we have polo ground park, Eidgah park, and parks in Dargah and Sanatnagar. Nothing can be done where parks or gardens are paid but for children the rates are half. Still, there are many parks where public entry is free,” he added.

According to the officials, there are more than 200 parks and gardens in Kashmir of which more than 30 have been outsourced while many of them are either free for the public or are controlled and managed by the Floriculture Department—(KNO)