Eight years after local residents were locked out of the Babulnath Bandstand garden or Seth Tulsidas Kilachand Garden, the gates will finally open to them today, after mid-day’s report on Wednesday.

The garden was closed to them in 2007, ostensibly for beautification purposes. Locals waited year after year — in vain — for their garden to be restored to them. All the while, the fine green space in the prime location was kept out of bounds for those who wanted to walk or play there, only to become a haunt for vagrants and vagabonds upon nightfall.