Taj by night "Tax Free" - UP government

VISHAL SHARMA
INDIA (Agra), 26 Nov. After a long gap of two decades, the tourists may finally view the world famous Mughal monument Tajmahal by moonlight, albeit, on a premium. The Archaeological Survey of India which is the custodian of the Tajmahal has declared a hefty entry fee for both foreign and Indian tourists, though the Indian tourists shall suffer more, who shall have to pay 25 times the day tariff while the foreign tourists have been exempted from the tariff raise.
It took over an year of hard labour for the UP government to get the Tajmahal opened by night, but today, when the time came to reap the fruit of this labour, the Union government was ready to make the most out of it. While the UP government declared the night-time Taj entry "Tax-Free", the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was busy selling heftily priced tickets to Indians well past the stipulated time on Friday.
A strategic move of the UP government, designed to attract foreign tourists through this moonlit spectacle appeared to have failed on Friday, when just six foreign tourists bought the night-viewing tickets due to several practical problems that had been overlooked by the ASI. Though over 120 tickets were sold to Indians, the majority of these tickets were bought by local administrative & police officials, following the directives of the Supreme Court and the number of Indian tourists was not significant. The media too, was asked to buy tickets to cover this event.
The Superintending Archaeologist of ASI, D Dayalan said that the ticket rates for foreigners shall remain the same for night viewing i.e. 15 USD while the Indians shall have to shell out Rs. 510 to view this spectacle. It is noteworthy here, that the Indians have to pay only Rs. 20 for viewing the Tajmahal during the day, making the Taj-vision an expensive affair for the "desi" tourists.
Dayalan said that as a special arrangement, the ASI has decided to levy a ticket of Rs. 500 on children aged 3 - 15 years who shall not be differentiated into Indians and foreigners. He said that the tourists have been given a choice to decide the time-slot between 8:30 - 12:30 in the night in which they wish to view the Tajmahal. He said that the tickets shall be sold one day before the opted night till 3 p.m. but at the ticket window, it was an altogether different scene with the tickets being sold well past the stipulated time.
Later, talking to the mediapersons, Agra Divisional Commissioner Dr. Ashok Kumar said as an opening gift for the tourists, the UP government has decided to keep the Taj entry during nights "Tax - Free" with the Agra Development Authority not levying any toll-tax. The state government shall now decide on the Toll-Tax issue in December. He said that the restriction of buying the tickets shall be applicable to all, whether officials or media.
He said that the markets around the Tajmahal shall be closed one hour before the opening time of the monument and the road from Shilpgram, leading to the Tajmahal shall be vacated of all people, except police personnel and the vehicles carrying the tourists shall be escorted by armed police personnel, who shall hand over the tourists to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) upon reaching the Tajmahal gate. The reverse procedure shall be followed for the exiting tourists. Only still cameras shall be allowed beyond the Tajmahal gate.
But despite the hype surrounding the night viewing of the Tajmahal from this Saturday, the local travel agencies did not appear too excited with the news and as a result, most of the foreign tourist groups appeared unaware of the Taj's night opening. Also, the fact that the computerized ticket window for night viewing was located 3 kilometers away from the Tajmahal, dissuaded the Free-Individual-Tourists (FITs) from venturing this far to buy a ticket which would only buy them 30 minutes of night viewing of Taj, when they could view the Taj for the full day for the same price.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)

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