No media when VVIPs visit Taj Mahal: ASI

Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. VVIP visits at the Taj Mahal maybe disliked by tourists who are deprived of visiting the monument during the time, but the local media welcomes such visits with press photographers scrambling around to get exclusive shots.

But this frantic scene may become a matter of the past with the Union Ministry of External Affairs directing the Archaeological Survey of India not to allow the entry of mediapersons into the monument during VVIP visits.

According to the Archaeological Survey of India sources, the MEA had taken strong view of the regular breach of protocol during VVIP visits. Security agencies usually allowed mediapersons, especially local cable channels, to interview a VVIP during their brief visits at the monument. However, the sources said aides of a number of VVIPs had raised their objection to the local administration.

The breach of protocol was evident on Sunday when the Agra district administration allowed a large number of mediapersons to enter the Taj Mahal for taking photographs of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, even though the ASI officials did not allow the them to proceed further than the main entrance. The Finnish Prime Minister and his wife had come to Agra on a personal tour.

Sources said the ASI had taken the matter very seriously and had decided to bar mediapersons from entering the monument during VVIP visits. The ASI would make photographs available later.

A senior official at the ASI told this newspaper that the MEA directives had also been referred to the Agra administration, as without administrative support, it was not possible for the agency to maintain its "no media coverage" stand. He said that often, it was the administrative pressure that forced the ASI to allow mediapersons into the monument. However, with the MEA issuing clear directions against the practice, the ASI had decided to take a firm stand on the issue, he said.

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