E-Paper
Chandigarh: Rock Garden reopens after three months
On the first day, Rock Garden saw a footfall of 2,700, including 2,500 adults and 200 children; it had to be closed for 45 minutes in the afternoon due to the rush
On the first day of its reopening after it was closed in April this year in the wake of the second Covid wave, the world-famous Rock Garden registered a footfall of around 2,700 on Wednesday.
Of the total 2,700 visitors, 2,500 were adults and 200 children of varying age groups. A visitor, Jaswinder Singh, said he and his family were happy to visit the Rock Garden, and that his children had been waiting for a long time to visit here.
The decision to reopen the garden was taken in a review meeting of the UT administration on July 13. Earlier, the garden was reopened in November last year, eight months after it was closed in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
Nearly 5,000 people used to visit the Rock Garden every day after it was reopened in November last year. From earning nearly ₹30 lakh per month from entry tickets to closure for several months, the administration had to suffer a huge loss during the national lockdown.
Amid rush, garden closed in afternoon
After witnessing a huge rush of people on Wednesday, however, the garden was closed for around 45 minutes in the afternoon by the advisory committee chief and the deputy commissioner during a visit. Nek Chand’s son Anuj Saini said, “Covid is not over yet, people are requested to take all the necessary precautions, so we can take care of each other as the third wave can still come.”
Measure to avoid spread of Covid-19
On the first day, the staff was stationed at the entry of the garden for thermal scanning of visitors. “The garden was sanitised and visitors without face masks were not permitted to roam around. Strict social distancing norms were followed,” said Sushil Bhardwaj, the ticket counterman.
“There is no cap on the maximum capacity of visitors set by the administration,” he added.
