The famous Mughal Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhavan will now be known as ‘Amrit Udyan’, with President Droupadi Murmu giving the new name with the country celebrating its 75 years of Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

The move is in line with the Narendra Modi government’s decision to shed India’s colonial baggage after Rajpath was renamed as Kartavya Path.

Rashtrapati Bhavan is home to a rich variety of gardens. Originally, they included East Lawn, Central Lawn, Long Garden and Circular Garden. During the term of former Presidents Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Shri Ram Nath Kovind, more gardens were developed, namely, Herbal-I, Herbal-II, Tactile Garden, Bonsai Garden and Arogya Vanam.

“Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens will now be collectively known as ‘Amrit Udyan’. The gardens are being opened by the President from tomorrow. It will remain open for the public from January 31 to March 26,” said Navika Gupta, deputy press secretary to the President.

The gardens will be open for visitors on all days of the week except on Mondays which are maintenance days and on March 8 on account of Holi.

From March 28 to 31, the gardens will be open for special categories- for farmers on March 28, for differently abled persons on March 29, for personnel of Defence Forces, Paramilitary Forces and Police on March 30, and for women including tribal women’s SHGs on March 31.

Another step towards making Rashtrapati Bhavan accessible to more and more people is through increase in capacity of each hourly slot. The visitors will be allowed to visit in six hourly slots between 10 am and 4 pm. The capacity for the two forenoon slots (10 am to 12 noon) will be 7,500 visitors during weekdays and 10,000 visitors in each slot on weekends. The capacity for the four afternoon slots (12 noon to 4 pm) will be 5,000 visitors in each slot during weekdays and 7,500 visitors on weekends.