Tourists make mockery of Taj security

Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. Security agencies at the Taj Mahal were again faced embarrassment when a Korean tourist group staged a song and dance show inside the monument on Wednesday. It was even recorded on a video.

Reacting late, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), in-charge of the monument's security, managed to confiscate the video camera of the tourists and the tape was destroyed before allowing the tourists to leave the monument premises.

According to the CISF Deputy Commandant V. Khamo Singh, a group of about 45 Korean tourists entered the Taj Mahal at about 8.00 am. This group, being part of a cultural troupe of Korea visiting the town, was allowed to enter the monument after a perfunctory security check.

The tourists proceeded towards the central tank of the monument and assembled on the tank in the form of a choir and began a song and dance sequence on the platform, that was being filmed by one of the tourists from the group, said the Deputy Commandant.
The tourists also allegedly displayed a banner with an inscription written in Korean language during the video shoot.

The Deputy Commandant said that at the time when the tourists arrived in the Taj Mahal, there were few tourists. By the time the CISF guards reached the spot, the choir was already breaking up.

According to Ms Singh, the guards immediately captured the camera being used by the tourists and told them that they had violated the rules of the monument that prohibited video-shoots from the central tank. The tourists feigned ignorance of the rules and said that their local guide had told them it was ok to shoot the music video at the monument.
She said that after interrogating the tourists, it was ascertained that they had indeed made a mistake, being misguided by the local guide and they were allowed to complete their tour of the monument, though their video camera was confiscated till they returned from their tour. The camera was later handed back to them, though the tape was destroyed.

Notably, this is the second time that the ASI and CISF have been caught unaware at the Taj. Earlier, on 25th December 2004, Yoga guru Bikram Chowdhary had held classes of his disciples at the Taj Mahal that was also filmed in a video in sheer contravention of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, Sections 7 and 8 subsection (b) by conducting "unauthorised commercial activities" in a monument protected by the ASI. An FIR had been filed against Chowdhary later on and fined under the Act.

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