(in): Aquarium adds to Kashmir's beauty

August 22, 2007

Aquarium adds to Kashmir's beauty

Zaffar Iqbal

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 (Jammu)

Bagh-e-Bahu is the most sought after place for the people of Jammu to relax

and hang out.

But now the biggest garden of Jammu situated on the banks of river Tawi has

been made even more colourful with the introduction of the first state of

the art aquarium-cum-awareness centre of the state.

It's the biggest underground aquarium of the subcontinent and is built at a

cost of Rs nine crore.

The entrance is designed in the shape of the mouth of a fish and the exit in

the shape of a fish tail.

''I think it's a good place for everybody, other than a picnic spot it's the

best place to improve one's knowledge,'' said Anjalie Khar, Visitor.

The aquarium that was thrown open for the people just last month has already

become a big hit with the number of visitors running into thousands each

day.

The centre comprises of 24 aquarium caves and houses a museum where 400

varieties of freshwater and marine fish are on display.

''I think it's very good for people of Jammu where they can get a feel of a

good place, we can take around the children and show them the fishes, it's

quite informative,'' said Sudhir Wattal, Visitor.

Jammu is the main transit camp for the Viashno Devi pilgrims. Every year

lakhs of pilgrims go to Katra through Jammu but the number of tourists

visiting Jammu is expected to go down after a direct rail link to Katra is

established next year.

The aquarium is built as an alternate tourism destination for the tourists

visiting Jammu and to keep the Jammu's tourism industry going.

The first aquarium of Jammu and Kashmir has evoked a great response and its

popularity is growing with every passing day, clearly it has added another

feature to the beauty of the state.

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