BENGALURU: The Lalbagh flower show, which was held after a gap of two years due to Covid-19, received an overwhelming response. Lalbagh Joint Director K M Jagadesh said that on Sunday alone, the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens witnessed footfall of 1.56 lakh people, and revenue collection was Rs 78.07 lakh. The show this year was themed after actor Dr Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar. It was stalled due to Covid cases in January this year, and as the situation improved, preparations began at a brisk pace for the Independence Day flower show.
Lalbagh Deputy Director Kusuma G said the show this time received better response than the 2020 Republic Day. “From August 5 till 7pm August 15, footfall was 8.34lakh and revenue collected was Rs 3.33 crore,” Kusuma said.
“The show was a hit due to many factors -- the historical significance of Lalbagh, Puneeth Rajkumar, it was a long weekend, and people who missed the show last year were eagerly waiting,” said Horticulture Minister Munirathna Naidu. As the show revolved around Dr Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar, 3.5 lakh stems of fine quality Dutch roses and standard chrysanthemums were used for the tiled roof and limestone wall concept for Dr Rajkumar’s Gajanur house.
Similarly, Puneeth Rajkumar’s Shakthi Dhama, a replica, was designed using red Dutch roses and yellow standard chrysanthemums, as the colours represent Karnataka flag. In all, 2 lakh Dutch rose stems and chrysanthemums were used for this purpose. Apart from these two replicas, a miniature version of Mantralaya’s moola brindavana was designed using Dutch roses and chrysanthemums, and dedicated to Rajkumar. According to Kalidas Raj who put up this theme at Lalbagh, the total project cost was Rs 32 lakh.