A ride to explore gardens, temples

Battery operated vehicle to take visitors within precincts of Palace

Now onwards, visitors to the Palace can go on a ride around the magnificent structure in the city.

Deputy commissioner P S Vastrad, also executive officer of the Palace Board, launched a battery operated vehicle for the benefit of visitors on Thursday. Interested visitors can hire the vehicle at Rs 50 per head and go around the sprawling 75 acres compounded area of the Palace. There will be no charge for children below five years and specially-abled persons.

The intention is to facilitate visitors have a glimpse of the gardens spread over 25 acres and temples in the vicinity; Sri Shweta Varaha Swamy, Gayatri, Trineshwara, Navagraha, Bhuvaneshwari, Lakshmiramana, Krishnaswamy, Khille Venkataramana, Vinayaka Swamy and Sanjeevanjaneya.

The facility on the lines of Zoo, is a 13 seater and chauffeur driven. It will be parked at Varaha Gate, the main gate of the palace and separate ticket counter will be opened, again to make it easily accessible to visitors. The battery, once charged, will remain functional for eight hours.

One more vehicle will be added in the coming days, deputy director of the board T S Subramanya said.

Under the existing set up, disabled persons are allowed to move inside and outside the Palace on their wheelchairs. That apart, recently, the Palace Board introduced 10 wheelchairs.

A token advance is collected from the service users and refunded after returning the wheelchair.

Of late, the board has been coming out with a slew of facilities in the interest of the tourists. Recently, 10 bicycles were introduced enabling the visitors to pedal around the Palace. Earlier to this, an ambulance was also rolled out to attend to emergency cases.