By Zubair Qureshi

Srinagar, Mar 31 (IANS): The famed Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden located on the outskirts of Srinagar has become the centre of attraction for tourists these days.

Both local and non-local tourists are enjoying the picturesque scenery of the garden. According to Inamur Rahman, who's in-charge of the garden, about 1,30,000 tourists have visited the Tulip Garden in the first 10 days since it was opened for public.

However, he said that there has been a decrease in the number of local tourists due to Ramadan, but tourists from other states are visiting the garden in droves.

"We are getting very good response. While the footfall of local tourists is less due to the ongoing Ramadan, a large number of non-local tourists are visiting the garden," he said.

Spread over 52 hectares of picturesque land on the foothills of Zabarwan mountains and located by the banks of the Dal Lake, Srinagar's Tulip Garden is the largest tulip garden in Asia.

Last year, it had witnessed a footfall of over 3 lakh people in one month.

Rahman expressed hope that this year too the garden will continue to be the centre of attraction for tourists.

"We hope to break the record of last year this time because the response we have got in the first 10 days has been very good," he said.

Four new types of tulips have been added to the garden this year -- Virgo, Sweetheart, Hamilton and Chrism Dream -- which have been imported from The Netherlands.

Tulip beds have been created on 200 kanals of land, while parks have been created on the remaining land. More than 15 lakh beautiful tulips of 64 varieties can be seen in the garden.

The garden, formerly known as Siraj Bagh, was dedicated to the public in 2008 by then J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.