One of Bengaluru’s most awaited events, the Independence Day flower show at Lalbagh Botanical Garden, will be inaugurated on August 4 this year. This year, the Horticulture Department has decided to pay a tribute to Kengal Hanuamanthaiya, the second Chief Minister of Karnataka. More than 15 lakh flowers will be used for the show this year.
“Mr. Hanumanthaiya was instrumental in the construction of the Vidhana Soudha and thus there will be a floral replica of the same. Remembering his contribution to the freedom movement, there will also be a replica of the Shivapura Satyagraha Soudha. To mark his stint as the Railway Minister, there will be a 30-feet railway model,” said a senior official of the department.
He also said that there will be models depicting the first formation of the Kannada and Culture Department by the former CM, and the nationalisation of the Kolar gold mines, which was another one of his initiatives.
For the Republic Day show, the department had chosen ‘Evolution of Bengaluru’ as the theme. With a record footfall of 3.3 lakh visitors, a whopping ₹1.97 crore was collected in revenue.
The previous year’s Independence Day show, organised as a tribute to the father-son actor-duo Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar, had seen over 8 lakh people in attendance.
Riding high on the numbers, the officials said that they were expecting more people for the upcoming flower show. “We are expecting at least 9-10 lakh people to attend this time,” said the senior official.
As many as 15 lakh flowers will be used for replicas as well as display items both inside and outside the glass house. “This will include cut flowers and the potted ones,” he added.
The show will go on for 11 days as usual, until August 15. The ticket prices for adults will be ₹70 on weekdays and ₹80 on weekends while it will be ₹30 for children, on all days.
