Ahmedabad's Victoria Garden or Lokmanya Tilak Baug won an award in the Green Space category in the City Beauty Competition held by the state government in Gandhinagar on Monday. Swami Vivekananda Park in Kodinar and Flower Park in Ahmedabad bagged the second and third positions. The awards were announced in five categories - Heritage, Green Space, Commercial, Waterfront, and Ward. Each category comprised three awards. Victoria Garden is managed under the Pratiti initiative of Torrent Group's CSR arm UNM Foundation. "Every day about 2,500 to 3,000 visitors, including morning walkers, visit the garden which works out to about 10-11 lakh in footfall per annum," a statement from the foundation said. The awards ceremony was presided over by Ashwini Kumar, Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing in the Gujarat government, and was given away by Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan. The City Beauty Competition (CBC) was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in December 2022, aiming to provide an opportunity for civic wards and the cities to showcase their initiatives towards creating beautiful public spaces and adding value to urban life. As part of the selection process, entries were invited from cities and the ULBs. The state governments appointed a Third-Party Agency (TPA) for on-ground verification as A total of 252 entries were received from 144 urban local bodies from across the country of which 174 entries qualified for the TPA survey.
