Kashmir's Tulip Garden Opens for Public

Kashmir's iconic Tulip Garden, the biggest in Asia, on Wednesday was thrown open to the public and saw a rush of tourists on the first day, officials said.

- Ashiq Hussain

SRINAGAR: Kashmir's iconic Tulip Garden, the biggest in Asia, on Wednesday was thrown open to the public and saw a rush of tourists on the first day, officials said.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah inaugurated the garden that boasts more than 17.5 lakh flowers of 74 tulip varieties, many of them in full bloom.

With mild rain lashing the area, tourists had a gala time at the picturesque garden that came up in 2006.

Donning a white Pheran, or Kashmiri gown, Omar visited the garden and took some pictures. He also posed for selfies with the visitors.

After his visit, Omar took to micro-blogging platform X. "After more than a decade I was back at the Tulip Garden in Srinagar to officially throw it open to visitors. Over the next few weeks thousands of people are expected to visit Asia's largest tulip garden and enjoy the riot of colour," he said in the post.