SRINAGAR : Bad weather coupled with flood threat has delayed the opening of Asia’s largest tulip garden on the foot of Zabarwan hills, overlooking the world famous Dal Lake in the heart of the city.
The garden, which will have now a million tulips in more than 60 colours, was scheduled to throw open for visitors, including tourists from April 3 by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed.
However, if the weather permits, the garden will be opened on April 6.
Due to late snowfall, chill, rain and continued bad weather, tulips in about half a dozen colours have come out while others are still progressing to be ready by next week if everything, particularly weather remains favourable. Lakhs of other tulips in more than 70 colours are still developing despite heavy rain and snow this month. If weather will remain dry and warm, majority tulips will be in bloom in the first week of next month, the gardeners said. They said the garden will be thrown open for public once majority of tulips will come out. However, there is a forecast for more rain till April 4 with heavy showers today and April 3.
They said tourists from different parts of the Country, locals and foreign tourists are visiting the garden. Several film units from South and Bollywood also shoot some film songs in the garden which has more than 70 varieties. However, due to snow and chilly weather conditions, tulips developed very late and the garden was closed early after heavy rains damage them (tulips) last year. Tulips are very sensitive having very short life of three to four weeks, the gardeners said, adding that in case of heavy rains or windstorm, the tulips get damaged. Inaugurated by UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on March 29, 2008, the tulip garden has advanced the tourist season in the Kashmir valley by about two months as earlier tourists used to throng here in the last week of May every year.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was brain behind the garden, development of which was actually started in 2005.
At the foot of Zabarwan hills, the garden has become major attraction for tourists across the world besides locals and Bollywood as number of scenes were filmed in the garden in the past two years.
In all, 70 varieties of early, mid, late and very late blooming tulips will spread a rainbow of red, orange, purple, white, pink, parrot and yellow colours on the garden The tulip bulbshere are better than Holland because of suitable temperature, soil and water, the gardeners claimed. However, they said lack of proper infrastructure has affected their efforts to preserve bulbs in a proper and scientific way. ‘We do not have proper post harvesting infrastructure following which some ordinary arrangements were made to preserve the bulbs,’ they said adding that there is also no such facility in any part of the country. They said,’when the temperature goes up in summer, we are facing problems to preserve the bulbs. We are making ordinary arrangements so that the temperature in the huts, where these bulbs are kept after post harvesting, is maintained,’ they said and added that we cover the huts with ‘grass chataiyee’ and later pour water on them to maintain proper temperature which sometime not prove effective.’
The officials said experts of Holland, who visited the garden and trained people in the past were surprised to see the bulbs in the garden.
‘Despite the fact that we are doing here everything manually, our bulbs are best in the world,’ the gardeners claimed.
(AGENCIES)
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