What’s new at Kashmir’s famous Tulip Garden this year?

Visitors to Asia’s largest Tulip Garden on the banks of Dal Lake here can enjoy free wi-fi access, in addition to many other new facilities, when the garden opens to public later this month. The Tulip garden will be thrown open to the public on March 25.

“With the need of staying connected increasing by the day, the floriculture department, in collaboration with BSNL, is providing free wi-fi connectivity to visitors,” said floriculture director Mathoora Masoom. Masoom said several other initiatives have been taken to make the visitors, a large number of whom are tourists, feel comfortable during their visit to the Tulip Garden.

“We have added more green spaces inside the garden so that visitors can rest and enjoy the beauty of flowers in full bloom,” she said. The official said this year, the department has planted 12.25 lakh tulip bulbs over an area of 10 hectares.

“We have added some other flowering plants to the Tulip Garden this year which includes hyacinths, daffodils, narcissus and other ornamental plants,” she said, adding this season, 40,000 hyacinth bulbs have been planted in a separate terrace and more are being added. The officer said the department has added several new fountains to the garden as well. There was just one fountain earlier.

“To make the garden more pleasing to the eye, there will be a water channel running through the terraces,” Masoom said. More drinking points have been added for convenience of visitors while a separate washroom has been constructed for specially-abled visitors.

A festival will be held at the Tulip Garden to coincide with its opening. “There will be decorated kiosks and stalls showcasing handicrafts and cuisine of Kashmir with a traditional and ethnic touch,” she said. However, only environmentally-friendly activities will be allowed inside the garden. Kiosks will also be set up outside the garden premises to protect it from pollution.

Tulips were introduced in Kashmir on a large scale in 2007 when chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had the Siraj Bagh turned into the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden. The aim of setting up of the largest tulip garden of Asia was to give another choice to tourists and boost the tourism season, which used to begin in May every year, by two months.

The garden has been a success story with thousands of tourists thronging there during the three weeks of its bloom.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more