COIMBATORE: Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena and agricultural production commissioner and principal secretary Apoorva inaugurated the 126th edition of flower show at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) in Nilgiris on Friday.
The event will be held till May 20. While visitors opined that the entry fee was too high, traders said their businesses are affected because less people have been travelling to the hill station due to the e-pass system. They have called for a meeting on Monday to discuss the possibility of observing a bandh over the issue.
Nearly five lakh flowering plants have been planted in the garden and 45,000 flower pots are on display. Among the notable displays are a 35-feet-tall Disney World castle made of one lakh multi-coloured roses, Ooty Mall made of 80,000 roses. Floral representation of popular cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck, and flowes made out of marigold, French marigold, blacks, petunia, pansy, dianthus, begonia, dahlia, etc are also on display. Carnation flowers have been brought from Bengaluru and Hosur, sources said.
The 19th annual rose show, based on the theme Save Wildlife, was also inaugurated on Friday. Over 80,000 flowers have been used to make exhibits like of elephants, Indian Gaur, Deer, Nilgiris Tahr, Tiger, Panda, etc.
Thousands of tourists from Kerala, Karnataka and other parts of Tamil Nadu are visiting the show. A majority of vistors complained that the entry fee of Rs 150 for an adult and Rs 75 for a child was too high.
"On normal days, the fee is just Rs 50 and Rs 30 respectively. Last year, the fee was Rs 100 and Rs 50. Despite the high charges, there are not much facilities in the garden. A family of five needs to spend up to Rs 750 to enter the garden. A separate entry fee of Rs 100 per person is charged for the rose garden ," said R Balamurugan, a visitor.
Traders alleged they are hit as implementation of e-pass system has brought down the footfall to the hill station. L Varadharajan, general manager of Doddabetta tea factory and tea museum, said, "In normal seasonal days, other than flower show, our place will be having a footfall above 5,000 people. But after e-pass system, we observe less than 3,000 footfalls to our museum."
G Mahendran, secretary of Ooty cottage association, "We have faced a hit due to e-pass system. This is the time for us to make some profit. But, rooms are vacant. We have decided to conduct all traders, restaurant owners; cottage owners meeting on Monday to decide on observing bandh on Friday and Saturday."
Earlier, addressing media after inspecting the functioning of the e-pass system, Chief Secretary Meena said "There is no need for people to worry about e-pass who wish to visit Nilgiris. All they have to do is register in the portal and the e-pass will be issued within two minutes."
When asked about the entry fee hike, he said, "The government did not see it (entry fee) as revenue aspect. For giving the facility to visitors, the fee is collected. However, the people's feedback will be taken up for consideration."