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Karachi: City creates No-Women zones for 3 days due to congested crowds - Naveed Yaseen - 10-04-2008 07:34 AM
By Jamil Khan
KARACHI: All major recreational sites including parks and the zoo were declared women free areas for the three-day Eid holidays. The managements of these areas also doubled the ticket fee to extract the maximum money from the public on this festive occasion, Daily Times learnt.
During the Eid holidays many families went to recreational areas such as Beach Park, Safari Park, Karachi Zoological Gardens, Quaid’s Mausoleum, Hill Park and others, but at most places, officials did not let women enter, even if they had male companions. A large number of men were present and the officials did not want the womenfolk to go experience any unpleasant incident.
The officials at the Quaid’s Mausoleum allowed families into the mausoleum premises but charged Rs 10 per person, even for entertaining children on a normal basis. Families that brought their children were astonished to find that the officials were not allowing kids to go in with their parents without giving the fee, which had been deliberately doubled.
The management of Karachi Zoological Garden placed a banner outside the main entrance on Agha Khan III Road, which announced that the zoo will be closed to women. Dozens of families were not allowed to enter the zoo, creating confusion among the citizens.
“The city government should announce such rules before the Eid holidays through the print media and television transmissions to avoid embarrassment and confusion,” said Moin Ali, who had brought his family from New Karachi to visit the Zoo on the second day of Eid.
There were many families that were seen outside the two entrances of the zoo as they were not allowed to enter and many people were complaining about ticket prices, which were raised from the usual Rs 5 to Rs 10 and even children below the age of 10 were charged the full price, despite the fact that the ticket had Rs 5 printed on it.
The Karachi Zoological Garden is run by the City District Government Karachi and normally admission tickets are priced at Rs 5 for adults and Rs 2 for children.
An official who was collecting tickets told Daily Times that the higher authorities knew that the ticket fee was being doubled.
“Many individuals among the large numbers of male visitors belonging to different backgrounds often become hooligans and create an unpleasant environment, especially for families,” he said.
Visitors were also complaining about the doubled parking fee and were unhappy to see non-officials collecting the fee. District Officer Zoos Manzoor Kazi was not available for comments.
Parking charges were also doubled at the Safari park located on University road and no management representative was available at the gate to offer any help to the citizens who came to visit the park.
Some families decided to go the Beach Park to spend their Eid holidays but whoever reached there before 4 p.m. was disappointed, as the park was only open to public from 4 p.m. to midnight.
Hill Park in PECHS is traditionally visited by hundreds of Pathans, who gather there for three days to celebrate Eid. This was the first time that women were not allowed to enter the park and many families were sent home by the police officers on duty.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\04\story_4-10-2008_pg12_1