ASI bans morning walk in Araam Bagh

Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. People think that morning walk and jogging are the best solution to a number of health related problems. But, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) seems to think differently.

On Saturday, the ASI banned the entry of the people for morning walk in the "Araam Bagh", Agra's own version of the senior citizens' "Jogger's Park", which is the only public park available to the residents of the trans-Yamuna area of the town.

The locals had been using the Araam Bagh for morning walk since several decades. But on Saturday, the ASI suddenly issued a notification to formally banned the entry to this Mughal-era garden, posting guards on its gates, while strictly imposing a Rs five ticket on the entry to the garden.

Due to the sudden ban, the senior citizens were surprised and jostled with the ASI officials and policemen on Saturday to get entry. A group of people who had come for morning walk forcibly entered the garden by breaking open the lock of the garden gate but later were forced to leave the garden.

On Sunday, a group of senior citizens also claimed to have met the Agra District Magistrate and demanded the re-opening of the park. Though talking to The Pioneer, District Magistrate Agra, Sanjay Prasad, denied having any information regarding the ban on morning walk in the Araam Bagh. He said he would seek clarification from the ASI on the reasons of banning.

For placing a ban on the morning walk in the Araam Bagh, Assistant Conservator, ASI, SK Kulshreshtha, said that the Araam Bagh was not a garden, but houses the cenotaph of the first Mughal Emperor Babar who used to cool his heels here during his stopovers.

According to Mr Kulshrashtha, the ASI had placed an entry ticket on the Araam Bagh about eight years ago. Though it was not strictly enforced and people openly used the garden. But lately, some anti-social elements also started coming and began defacing Babar's monument.

He said that about a week ago, the ASI office at Agra received a complaint of the Chief Horticulturist, ASI, Harveer Singh, along with some photographs of people damaging the monument, demanding an immediate ban on morning walk. Accordingly, the ASI enforced the provision of entry by ticket.

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