Hold flower show in closed structure, restrict it to a week: Entomologists

BENGALURU: For Hanumanth Gowda, a lab technician, Lalbagh is no different from hell. The 25-year-old was among the four visitors to the botanical gardens who were attacked by a swarm of bees on August 15 and had to be hospitalized. The youth has decided never to go to Lalbagh again.
Hanumanth still shudders at the though of what happened on the day he visited Lalbagh to see the Independence Day flower show."For almost half an hour I kept running around as the bees were all over me. I was screaming for help. But no one came to my rescue. I even took photos of cops sitting quietly when I was howling in pain. Finally, an old man called for an ambulance," he says.
"I didn't see a single flower. I don't even want to go anywhere near Lalbagh," says Hanumanth, who recently got discharged from hospital but is still on medication.
Incidentally, this is the second bee attack in Lalbagh in the last two years. Though Lalbagh authorities claim that the beehives were removed ahead of the flower show, the attack happened.
According to entomologists from Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), the first step that should be taken is to limit the show to 5-7 days, instead of 10 days. The longer the show, the greater the chances of such attacks, they say.
"Bee sting carries toxic secretion causing inflammation and severe pain. The bee also dies. The best way to avoid bees during the flower show is to grow flowering creepers near beehives. Also, the exhibits can be displayed in a closed structure, that is bee and butterfly proof. What's happening now is that the flowers lure the bees and when they descend, humans interfere with their activities," says Dr AK Chakravarthy, principal scientist, HOD, department of entomology, IIHR.
Dr HP Sumangala, scientist and floriculturist, IIHR, says it's the behaviour of visitors that matters most. "Flower show is a gathering that sees over 2 lakh footfalls. No matter what precautions the authorities take, visitors must be equally careful. When I visited a garden in Germany developed by Gustav Hermann Krumbiegel, the German botanist considered to be the architect of Lalbagh, I was impressed by the sense of ownership that people have towards their public places. It's not the same here. Public need to be sensitized. If someone pelts a stone at a beehive, it's someone else who suffers," says Dr Sumangala.