12k visit Bharat Darshan Park on New Year's weekend
Ticket sales over ₹15 lakh in first two days of year, SDMC plans to recover input cost in first year of operations
South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) recently inaugurated Bharat Darshan Park in Punjabi Bagh witnessed about 12,000 visitors and sales of tickets worth over ₹15.4 lakh in the first two days of the new year, data from the municipal corporation shows.
The SDMC said according to its estimates, it will be able to recover the input development cost within the first year of operations. The Waste to Wonder Park in Sarai Kale Khan, where replicas of seven wonders of the works have been made using scrap material, was also able to recover the input cost in the first year.
Bharat Darshan Park’s daily ticket sales data shows that there were 6,307 visitors on Saturday and 5,276 visitors on Sunday. The park was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah on December 25, 2021. The park opened for the public on December 26. Ticket sales worth around ₹25 lakh have been made so far.
Leader of the House Inderjeet Sehrawat said that the civic body has also initiated premium services in the park at the cost of ₹150 per ticket, in exchange for which people can view light shows and automated illumination of the monuments. A regular ticket at the park costs ₹100.
A senior civic official said that the shortage of open spaces and lack of recreational spots in the city has led to a growing demand for good quality theme-based public parks. Built at a cost of ₹20 crore, the theme park in Punjabi Bagh is spread over 8.5 acres and features 22 replicas of historical monuments such as Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal, Char Minar, Gateway of India, Konark Temple, Nalanda Stupa, Mysore Palace, Meenakshi Temple, Victoria Memorial, Ajanta and Ellora caves and other key sites. The replicas have been constructed with 350 tonnes of scrap material, such as old vehicles, fans, iron rods, nuts and bolts that were unused/abandoned at the SDMC stores, officials said. The evening illumination in the premium section has been carried out using 755 facade lights, three LED screens, 600 bollard lights, one DJ set and 102 compound lights.
While two waste-to-art-based theme parks have already been operationalised by the south corporation featuring replicas of seven wonders of the world and Indian monument in the Capital, the commissioners of east and south MCDs announced in their annual budget speeches that more such parks will come up in the city at places like ITO, Nirman Vihar and Jangpura. The south corporation has plans to develop Bollywood Park and Shaheedi Park, while extending the concept of re-using waste beyond metallic scrap material.