No one to smell spring flowers in capital

Covid-19 lockdown means parks are bereft of people

ISLAMABAD: As a lockdown enforced in the federal capital enters the third week, residents are missing out on one of their most favourite times of the year, spring.

The season sees the entire city covered in colourful flowers and the cherry blossoms, turning the year-long green look of the city into a rainbow of natural colours.

It is no surprise that this time of the year sees some specific festivals and competitions held in the city, with horticultural contests for the best flower arrangement apart from massive flower shows, particularly in the Rose and Jasmine gardens – a show which rivals with other mega shows such as food festivals for footfall.

However, with the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the city which has claimed at least one life amidst 83 cases, many people are staying home as per a government-mandated lockdown. All public places, including parks and open grounds, have been shut down.

Hence, there is no one there to appreciate the beauty of the radiant flowers except for some security personnel on duty to restrict public movement and a few people who commute to work or to stores to procure essential items.

The spring festival in the federal capital, which is held every year to celebrate the arrival of the ‘season of flowers’, has also been postponed indefinitely.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA), which works hard to plant hundreds of seasonal saplings before spring to ensure the city shines and radiates during the blossom season has succeeded in that task but now has no one to appreciate it.

Akhtar Rasool, a senior CDA official, said that they decided to plant different kinds of saplings in Islamabad during February, just before spring in the capital. He added that the teams worked really hard to complete their set target.

However, he lamented that “the pandemic has seized the liveliness of Islamabad which is usually visible during the spring season every year”.

The official sounded despondent on being asked when life will return to normalcy, noting that several local, as well as international visitors, used to come to the federal capital to witness the colours of spring.

However, Rasool pointed to the silver lining of the lockdown, noting that the environment of the federal capital is much cleaner now.

He said that the air pollution in Islamabad has gone down drastically due to the few vehicles which now ply the roads.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2020.