Visitors queue up as Anand Bhawan, Planetarium reopen
Post-lockdown reopening of the historic place witnessed visitors from Kanpur, Aligarh Mirzapur on Day 1
Visitors from different districts including Kanpur, Aligarh and Mirzapur, besides locals, poured in on the first day of the post-lockdown reopening of the historic Anand Bhawan and Jawahar Planetarium located in the same premises on Thursday.
Anand Bhawan is the ancestral home of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which is now a museum. Along with Jawahar Planetarium, the two are among the most prominent tourist attractions of Prayagraj.
The gates of Anand Bhawan opened at 10 am itself even as Jawahar Planetarium allowed just 50% occupancy of visitors and also ran six shows—from 11 am to 4.30 pm. There are 96 seats in the planetarium which meant the officials sold only 48 tickets for each show.
“Among the visitors were children, grown-ups and senior citizens, all enthusiastic about the two attractions opening their doors to visitors. By 2pm we had 110 visitors at Anand Bhawan while Jawahar Planetarium had 80 people watching the shows. Wearing of facemasks was mandatory for all visitors and access was granted only after thermal scanning at the entrance gate,” said Anand Bhawan director Y Ravi Kiran.
“We also made visitors aware about the norms that one needed to follow to stay safe during Covid-19 and announcements were also made regularly in this regard,” he said.
Spectators from many districts of the state came to see Anand Bhawan including Sandeep Baudh and Manoj Gautam from Kanpur Dehat, Mirzapur’s Basant Lal and Reshma, Aligarh’s Kushal Pratap and Lokesh Pratap, both advocates. Pihu and Jahnavi of Kanpur also visited the planetarium with their maternal grandparents.
“It was truly a fun and a learning experience. We enjoyed the visit greatly,” said an excited Jhanvi.