PAY AND USE: Visitors will have to shell out Rs 5 to enter the Botanical Gardens from December. A Telegraph picture

To keep miscreants and criminals out of the Botanical Gardens, at Shibpur, Howrah, its authorities are set to introduce an entry fee.

Sources in the garden administration said Rs 5 will be charged as entry fee. It will be introduced in December.

A work order will soon be issued in this regard. A private agency will be appointed to collect the entry fee.

Miscreants had created several gaps in the boundary wall around the garden to ensure easy access. The central public works department has recently repaired the broken portions.

This is the first time a fee is being introduced by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), which looks after the garden, established in 1787. The 273-acre property showcases 25,000 varieties of plants.

In addition to introducing the entry fee, the garden authorities have decided to collect Rs 100 annually from morning-walkers. Those who use the gardens for their constitutionals will have to deposit the amount with the garden authorities for obtaining identity cards. Those with the cards will be allowed to enter the garden in the morning without paying the fee.

Senior citizens (those above 65 years of age) will be exempted from paying the annual charge, a BSI official said.

G.S. Giri, joint director of the BSI and in charge of the garden, said on Thursday: ?Once the entry fee is in place, some new benefits will be offered to the visitors.?

?There are two pavilions in the garden. We are planning to convert one of them into a cafeteria. We would like to open the cafeteria on the same day the entry fee is introduced,? he elaborated.

Picnics can be organised in the other pavilion, the joint director added.

The garden authorities have also taken up a project to ensure round-the-clock supply of water to the tanks in the garden. ?We had requested the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) authorities to help us. The CPT has finalised a water supply plan,? Giri stated.

Chairman of the CPT Anup Chanda said chief engineer Bikash Chowdhury has been handling the project. He has found a way to maintain constant flow of water from the Hooghly to the waterbodies in the garden.

?The planning is almost complete. We will soon get in touch with the garden authorities for the implementation of the project,? Chanda signed off.