kolkata the crowds returned to kolkatas favourite hot spots on wednesday after a lull the day before but failed to match up to the numbers in the same period a year beforethe footfall at alipore zoological gardens shot up to 88000 on wednesday from 35000 the day before but the average turnout was nowhere near last years figure officials saidthe 35000footfall recorded on tuesday is the average footfall every day in winter so it was surprising given the fact that there has been no significant increase in ticket prices neither has any fresh visitor restriction been imposed wednesdays turnout however was very good even more than that of january 1 2019 said a senior officialthe new years day crowd count at victoria memorial hall dipped by over 3000 both at the museum and the garden leaving authorities flummoxed the way the crowd count has been growing every year we knew it would hit a peak and then dip but the nearly 10 drop is unexpected said vmh curator jayanta sengupta on new years eve the slide was sharper from nearly 29000 on december 31 2018 to 23422 on december 31 2019vmh staffers at the ticket counter said visitors from adjoining districts like howrah hooghly south and north 24 parganas had dropped sharply perhaps indicating a wariness among a section of people to travel to the city at a time when restiveness is on the rise there appears to be uncertainty in the minds of those who dont live in kolkata about the situation prevailing in the city with protests against caa and nrc in kolkata and districts taking over the headlines families are wary of getting caught in the disruption though political parties had not scheduled any programmes on december 31 and january 1 it couldnt dispel the anxiety said a student from a howrah college who was visiting the vmh gardens with her friendsnicco park another favourite destination saw crowds swell to 13000 on wednesday compared to the day before but it was significantly lower than the turnout in the previous years in fact even those who came on wednesday preferred the lowcost or free rides like toy train and lazy river over the more expensive ones we have no clue about the reason behind this drop in footfall over the years said an officialsome felt the state of the economy too was to blame though ticket prices havent changed other expenses including commute and food have become more costly discouraging some families from suburban towns from coming to the cityofficials in eco park reasoned that the similar crowd turnout trend they noticed had partly to do with a complete ban on visitors bringing food from outside the significant turnout of nearly a lakh recorded in eco park on the yearend and new years day last year was due to the picnickers who came to enjoy with homecooked food another reason for a lower footfall count was also the ban on all watersports in eco park this