Sukhna Lake to be thrown open for public tomorrow

The famous Sukhna Lake here will reopen tomorrow with the administration planning a number of events on the occasion, a month after the tourist spot was cordoned off in the wake of bird flu scare.
Government-owned Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) has planned a number of cultural events at the lake tomorrow including a performance by a police band, officials said here.
CITCO has also invited regular morning walkers, who used to throng the lake, for a walk tomorrow morning.
However, boating, which remained the main attraction of the lake for past several years, will not resume tomorrow and remain closed till further orders.

Barricades would also be put up near the lake to instruct the public from going towards the water body.
On a normal day, the lake bustles with tourist activity along with scores of locals including top bureaucrats, who frequent the city's landmark for morning and evening walks.

However, the lake had been cordoned off a month ago and closed for public entry as a precautionary measure after at least 30 ducks and geese at the lake had died mysteriously.
One of the geese had later tested positive for much- feared avian influenza.
According to an official of Chandigarh Tourism Department, before being closed for public, the lake used to attract nearly 8,000 tourists on weekdays and between 10,000-12,000 on weekends.