Special events help BITM, Science City log record footfall in heatwave month
Times of India | 5 May 2024
Kolkata: Children and their parents braved the worst April heatwave in four decades to visit the two science centres in Kolkata in large numbers last month. While Science City’s footfall this April was the same as last year, Birla Industrial & Technical Museum (BITM), the first science centre in the country, recorded a 24% spike in visitor count over April 2023.
However, two other popular tourist hot spots — Victoria Memorial Hall and Indian Museum — registered a sharp drop in visitor count. With visitors from south Bengal towns and villages usually comprising half the footfall that is registered at the two museums, the authorities say these visitors have stayed away, citing the cruel heatwave in south Bengal and the ongoing elections. They expect the footfall to stay low through May and June and revive only around July.
BITM, which has been communicating science to students since 1959, recorded a sharp rise in footfall last month, drawing 11,978 visitors — an overwhelming majority of them students — against 9,698 in April 2023. While enthusiasm among students and their parents was key to the surge in footfall, rejig of special programme timings also helped the cause.
“Given the weather, we did the Astro Night programmes, which included space-themed exhibition, open-house quiz and sky-watching sessions between 5 pm and 8 pm on April 19, 20 and 21. The turnout has been so encouraging that we have decided to hold at least two more such sessions in May,” BITM director Subhabrata Chauduri said, adding that water had been sprayed to cool the temperature during the outdoor events held in the late evenings.
Two other programmes — World Health Day on April 8 and World Heritage Day on April 18 — also drew significant visitors. “The hands-on workshop at the biotechnology lab was a big hit,” he said.
At Science City, the visitor count last month was the third highest April turnout in 27 years. A shade lower than last April when the second highest April turnout was recorded, director Anurag Kumar attributed the strong show despite the heat to the AC galleries and the hit large-format Voyager movie at the Space Theatre.
“The footfall outdoors has declined. There are few takers for the cable car ride and the outdoor Science Park is mostly deserted. But the galleries — Earth Exploration Hall, Science Exploration Hall, Science on a Sphere and Time Machine — have had good crowds,” said Kumar.