Eid holidays : People continue to throng parks, recreational spots

235,000 people visited Lahore Zoo in three days

LAHORE:

People continued to throng to parks and popular recreational spots on Tuesday, the last Eid holiday despite the heavy rain early in the morning.

A visitor to the Lahore Fort, Rehana Karim, said that she would also visit Minar-i-Pakistan and the Badshahi Masjid. “We had stayed at home for three days. It rained heavily early in the morning today.

So we decided to visit the Iqbal Park as the weather is likely to remain pleasant during the rest of the day,” she said.



Talking to The Express Tribune, Chaudhry Akhtar, the Iqbal Park project director, said that over the past three days, 20,000 to 30,000 people had visited the park. “The rain has not deterred visitors. We expect more people to come in the evening. People have been coming to the park throughout the Eid holidays,” he said.

He said that special arrangements had been made by the administration to manage the rush of visitors during the holidays. “Recreational places, such as parks and historical monuments, always attract people during public holidays,” he said.

The Lahore Zoo remained the most popular destination during the holidays.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Director Shafqat Ali said that over the three Eid holidays, 235,000 people had visited the zoo. “We expected around 80,000 people on Tuesday as well.

People gather in front of the artificial waterfall at Race Course park. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/TARIQ HASSAN/EXPRESS

However, only 40,000 people visited the zoo due to the heavy rain at the start of the day. Nevertheless, this year, the zoo saw 10,000 more visitors than last year,” he said.

The nearby Bagh-i-Jinnah (Lawrence Garden) also saw the number of visitors decrease on Tuesday.

“There were a lot more people yesterday. The park was filled with children and there was no space to walk on the road,” said Shafqat Mehmood, a rickshaw driver, who was standing next to Bagh-i-Jinnah to pick up fares.

Mehmood blamed the heavy rain for affecting the number of people coming to the park.

Nevertheless, many people arrived at the park despite the bad weather.

“We thought the weather would remain cloudy because of the rain. So I brought my family to the park today,” said Arsalan Javed, who was accompanied by his wife and children.

He said that spending time in the park was a great activity for the children. He said pleasant weather improved the experience.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2015.