Costly entry tickets: Zoo witnesses low foot count on Eid

LAHORE : High priced entry tickets at the Lahore Zoo have reduced the foot count a lot during the three days of Eid ul Fitr.

A number of visitors complained that they have returned from the gate of the Lahore Zoo after witnessing the entry ticket of Rs300 and Rs500 per person instead of Rs100 per person, the standard entry ticket of the Zoo.

Hanif Khan, a resident of Sandha said he went to the Lahore Zoo with his seven family members and returned without going inside because the ticket of Rs100 was not being offered to the visitors and the Zoo administration has placed charts over the counter mentioning that tickets of Rs300 and Rs500 per person were available. He said that Lahore Zoo was one of the affordable entertainment places of the city but now it was a no-go area for the poor as well as middle class people.

Saleem Ahmed, another visitor said he also returned due to the heavy price of entry ticket. He said he also saw that many families returned without visiting the Zoo because of the highly expensive tickets.

Meanwhile, Senior Provincial Minister Murriyam Aurangzeb while talking to media has issued a clarification and said the price of the Zoo ticket was Rs100 only and those who bought this ticket can see 98 percent of the Zoo.

She further said the aquarium ticket was Rs200 and the hologram ticket was Rs300 separately, thus the complete package of visiting the zoo was Rs500.

She said that some people had bought tickets of Rs300 together with the aquarium and some people had bought tickets of Rs500 together with the aquarium and the hologram, thus creating a misunderstanding about the process of Zoo tickets. She informed that now separate counters for hologram and aquarium were established to end this misunderstanding.