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New Delhi: For all those who've visited India’s first amusement park, it will definitely be an emotional moment as Delhi's Appu Ghar closes on Sunday. Not only will residents miss it, 250 of its employees might also be left without a job.

The last tickets will be sold on Sunday before Appu Ghar shuts shop at 1800 hrs IST in the evening.

The 14-acre amusement park had ride for everyone — the brave hearted, the not-so brave hearted and those who didn't like the rides at all.

But soon these rides would be razed to make way for an extended complex for the Supreme Court and a metro station.

People who have memories attached to the amusement park—most of them having been to the park several times as kids—can’t help getting nostalgic.

Named after the mascot of the 1982 Asiad Games, Appu was a favourite haunt of kids growing up through the 80s. The park was also a major tourist attraction of the capital.

Appu Ghar continued to attract visitors, even though similar and alternative entertainment sites sprung up in many cities over the years.

But for the Appu Ghar employees, the closure has meant different things.

Nirajan's stint at the ticket counter has been almost as long as the park itself. Despite reassurances by the authorities, he fears that he, along with the 250 other employees, will be left in the lurch.

“Nothing is clear. We don’t know where to go,” Niranjan Biswas says.

The owners are equally nostalgic about the 24-year-old park.

They say it was and will be remembered most by the affable mascot Appu.

“It's a part of me,” Chairman, International Amusement Limited, Gian Vijeshwar says.

It is, perhaps, a sentiment shared by many Appu Ghar regulars.

More on: Appu Ghar, supreme court