The 212th flower show held at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden since August 5, on account of the 75th Independence Day, ended on Monday with huge crowds and record turnouts.
The crowd, visitors said, was uncontrollable as over 3.5 lakh people visited the show on Monday alone, earning a revenue of ₹90 lakh.
Lalbagh authorities said they were able to issue tickets only for 60% of the people and the remaining got free entry.
The Horticulture Department had spent ₹2.3 crore on the flower show and earned ₹3.3 crore in 10 days, the highest collection in the history of the show.
M. Jagadish, Joint Director, Horticulture Department, told The Hindu, “This year’s flower show is a historical one. On Monday, more than 3.5 lakh people visited. It is the highest-ever number in the history of the flower show in a single day”.
Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, four consecutive shows were cancelled in the last two years. After the Republic Day show in 2020, this is the first flower show, which was organised by the collaboration with the State Horticulture Department and the Mysore Horticulture Society.
With the BMTC offering free rides on Monday, people took advantage of it and flocked to the show.
In addition, many people who came for the Independence Day programmes also came to Lalbagh. The glass house and ticket counters were crowded with spectators. There was traffic jam on the roads around Lalbagh.
There were also a record number of children at the show. “On the last day, there were about 30 to 40,000 children who hoisted flags in schools and they came directly to Lalbagh to watch the flower show. Apart from this, about 30,000 children have bought tickets and watched the show. Free entry was provided for children of Classes I to X,’’ said M. Kuppuswamy, Director, Mysore Horticulture Society.
Although, there was free BMTC bus services, many came to the show in private vehicles, resulting in vehicles being parked on the roadside near the Siddapur gate and HOPCOMS shop.
Vehicles were also parked besides Mavalli Road and R.V. Road. There was also traffic jams near Hosur Road, Jayanagar, Minerva Circle, J.C. Road, and Double road gates.
However, the government has decided to not to extend the flower show. Muniratna, Minister, Horticulture Department, said, “We dedicated the 212th flower show to veteran actors Dr. Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar, . Spectators arrived beyond our expectations. There has been a good response from the public, but it will not be extended”.
