Bengaluru: The Lalbagh flower show recorded 1.35 lakh footfalls on Sunday, taking the total number of visitors at the show since August 8 to 8.41 lakh.
The 216th flower show was themed around the architect of the constitution Dr B R Ambedkar.
While visitors to the show opined that crowd management improved significantly over the years, the first-timers and foreigners said the crowd was “hard to believe.”
On Sunday alone, the show collected a total of Rs 38.78 lakh; the overall revenue since day one is Rs 2.92 crore.
Athira, a resident of Jayanagar who visits the flower show every year with her family, said that two years ago, they could not enter the glasshouse when the show was themed around Puneeth Rajkumar.
Pushpa Seshadri, a senior citizen who came to the show with her son and granddaughter, said she enjoyed the experience despite the crowd.
People were inching towards the glasshouse to see the floral arrangements on the life and works of Ambedkar. Many were found scattered across the park on Sunday afternoon with caps and umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun.
Despite strict guidelines on a plastic ban inside the park, the glasshouse premises were littered with juice bottles, sachets and chocolate wrappers on the lawn.
Smitha Kulkarni, communication consultant for Saahas Zero Waste, the NGO which collaborates with the Horticulture Department in solid waste management during the flower show, remarked that they have been instructing the food stalls to use eco-friendly containers.
“Our team has been constantly guiding the visitors not to litter. Our team consists of about 20 to 25 volunteers on holidays and 10 to 12 volunteers on weekdays to ensure Lalbagh is litter-free,” she noted.
Traffic police personnel regulated vehicular movement at the park entrances.
With mini hospitals and paramedical teams deployed in select areas of the park including the glasshouse surroundings and the entrances, 38 first-aid kits were also installed throughout the botanical garden.
A nurse from a private hospital, who was deputed in Lalbagh, said that from day one of the show till Sunday, more than 2,000 visitors checked their vitals, free of cost, at the make-shift stall put up by the hospital.