Amid the growing coronavirus scare some amusement parks in the city continue to remain open
despite government advisories against public gathering. Amusement parks such as Nicco Park, water theme park; Aquatica, Millennium Park on the banks of river Hooghly, Eco
Park in Rajarhat are still open though schools, educational
institutions have been closed and advisories issued to avoid
gatherings. Though these places are open even now, the coronavirus
scare has brought down the footfall considerably.
Till now there has been no decision on keeping Eco
Park closed for visitors, the CMD of West Bengal Housing
Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, Debashis Sen,
said. So far no parks managed by the government have been
closed and no advisories have been issued for doing so, a
senior official of Nicco Park said.
Therefore there is no plan to shut down the park. But
we are closing early, the official said. However, the park is taking all possible measures such
as thermal screening before allowing entry.
We are offering hand sanitisers to the visitors and
cleaning the rides and food courts properly, he said.
An official of Aquatica said the water theme park will
remain open.
A senior minister of the West Bengal government when
contacted said that the state government would warn the
authorities of the amusement parks, who are keeping them open
despite requests to shut them to contain the outbreak.
He said that some parks such as the Eco Park and
Elliot Park have been kept open only for morning walkers.
A few parks where people go for morning walks have
been kept open,” the minister told PTI.
But if some amusement parks are still operational we
will warn them first, and even if they dont pay heed to our
directive, we will look into the options of taking action
against them, he said.
