Crowds throng Lalbagh to pay tribute to Appu

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

As the 10-day long 212th edition of the Independence Day Flower Show at Lalbagh drew to a close on Monday, the botanical garden witnessed a huge crowd that also included fans of Puneeth Rajkumar who had come to pay tributes to the late actor.

This year’s flower show was themed around Kannada film stars Dr Rajkumar and his son Puneeth Rajkumar.

Considering the high turnout, Deputy Director of Horticulture (Lalbagh) Kusuma G extended the timings of the flower show to 7 pm. “Large number of people from different places visited Lalbagh on the final day of the flower show. Popular Kannada actor and singer Vinod Rajkumar had also visited the garden on Independence Day. He said that he was very impressed with the flower show,” she said.

The official said that there were more than 1.6 lakh visitors on Sunday. “On Monday, I believe more than 2 lakh people visited here. As it was Independence Day, people and children from across neighbouring districts had also come in large numbers,” she added.

According to the official, the collection made by the flower show is estimated to be around Rs 2.42 crore until Sunday.

The DDH official further appreciated the efforts by the Bengaluru police to maintain the crowd during the flower show. As the traffic was thrown out of gear on the Independence Day, the Bengaluru traffic police had a tough time manning various junctions in the city. After a two[1]year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the flower show had made a comeback with a theme honouring the Kannada film stars, Dr Rajkumar and his son Puneeth Rajkumar, which was a major crowd-puller, the official said.

The Independence Day flower show was inaugurated on August 5 by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd had announced a paper ticket system with a fixed cost of Rs 30 to all metro stations from LalBagh Metro station to encourage the visitors to use public transport.