Tulip garden provides wheelchair service to physically challenged, elderlies

Srinagar: The Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, Asia's largest tulip garden along the banks of Dal Lake in Kashmir, is providing free of cost wheelchair service to physically challenged and elderly visitors.

Inam Ur Rehman, Floriculture officer and incharge of the Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, said “We have kept the wheelchairs here free of cost for the physically challenged visitors and elderly people. They can avail of the facility as this garden is designed keeping in mind the disabled as well.

Rehman said 20 wheelchairs have been placed at the main gate of the garden for the physically challenged visitors so that they can go around the whole area and enjoy the garden.

The visitors are in awe of the beauty of the garden and are also grateful to the staff for making their visit comfortable.

“Only once we requested a wheelchair and they provided it. The staff also assigned a person for help. This facility should be available for elderly persons in every garden. Without a wheelchair, they will miss the opportunity to view this beautiful garden,” said Meeta, a tourist from Maharashtra.

Om Prakash Shrivastav, who came to visit the garden with his mother, said, “My mother can't walk but with the help of a wheelchair facility here, I was able to take her to view the garden. If this facility wasn't here, my mother would not have been able to see the garden." Vaishali and her husband Vijay Kumar Dutmul had come to the tulip garden with a lot of apprehensions about how the woman would be able to walk through the area as she is suffering from a knee problem.

“This is a very big garden and I have a knee problem. So I couldn't walk all over this garden. I am feeling very good that this is free of cost…. there should be wheelchair facilities available in every garden,” she said.

Inam Ahmad, an official of the Floriculture department, said they have got a good response from the tourists who are happy and satisfied.

“We are able to provide such a facility to them. This is Asia’s biggest Tulip Garden and people from all across the country and abroad come here. We want tourists to see the entire garden. Ramps and smooth pathways have been built for the easy access of wheelchairs,” Ahmad added.

More than three lakh people have visited the garden this season and the number of visitors is expected to cross the last year's mark of 3.60 lahks.