Two days before the opening of the Independence Day Flower Show, Lalbagh was a hive of activity on Thursday with the horticulture department giving last-minute touches to the grand floral displays.
During the show, dedicated to the Indian Armed Forces, visitors will get to view floral replicas of PSLV, GSLV, Akash and BrahMos missiles, models of fighter jets and war helicopters.
Displays will also have information related to the Army, the Navy and the Air Force; besides statistical data and names of the Chiefs of the Armed Forces.
Y.S. Patil, Director, Horticulture Department, said among the exhibits in the Glass House will be a model of the War Memorial Amar Jawan Jyoti, depictions of soldiers guarding various zones along the coast, desert and mountains.
Apart from the floral tribute to the armed forces, the botanical garden will also have on display more than 87 varieties of seasonal flowers.
Keeping in line with the theme this year, there will be a drawing competition on the ‘Role of soldiers in protection of motherland’ and the ‘Border problems of India’. On the occasion of the Kannada filmdom completing 85 years, a commemorative model of the industry has also been created behind the Glass House. It will depict floral replicas of old film reel, clapboard and cameras.
The reel itself is 45 ft long, created with more than 15,000 roses, while the floral camera has more than 7,000 roses. Totally, over 1.8 lakh roses are being used.
The department expects around seven lakh visitors for the show, which will be open to the public from August 4 to 15.
Tickets to cost ₹10 more
Tickets to the flower show will sell at ₹70, an addition of ₹10 from the previous year, on account of GST. However, entry fee for children has not been revised and will remain ₹20. During the last two flower shows, the horticulture department did not include GST in the entrance fee, inviting a penalty of more than ₹1 crore. The department, in an effort to keep the flower show environment-friendly, has banned plastic on the premises.
