President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday graced the Udyan Utsav 2023 – opening of the gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan for the general public.

Rashtrapati Bhavan’s famed Mughal Gardens were renamed as ‘Amrit Udyan’ on Saturday.

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This time the gardens (Herbal Garden, Bonsai Garden, Central Lawn, Long Garden and Circular Garden) will be open for about two months.

‘Amrit Udyan’ will remain open for visitors from January 31 to March 26 (except on Mondays which are maintenance days and on March 8 on account of Holi) between 1000 hrs to 1600 hrs, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement on Sunday.

From March 28 to 31, the gardens will be open for special categories. For farmers on March 28, for differently-abled persons on March 29, for personnel of Defence Forces, Paramilitary Forces and Police on March 30 and for women, including tribal women’s SHGs on March 31, the statement said.

Another step towards making Rashtrapati Bhavan accessible to more and more people is through increase in capacity of each hourly slot. The visitors will be allowed to visit in six hourly slots between 1000 hrs and 1600 hrs.

The capacity for the two forenoon slots (1000 hrs to 1200 hrs) will be 7,500 visitors during weekdays and 10,000 visitors in each slot on weekends.The capacity for the four afternoon slots (1200 hrs to 1600 hrs) will be 5,000 visitors in each slot during weekdays and 7,500 visitors on weekends.

In this year’s Udyan Utsav, among several other attractions, visitors will be able to see specially cultivated tulips of 12 unique varieties which are expected to bloom in phases.