E-Paper
Apology taken from 5 women performing Yoga at Taj Mahal
Superintending archaeologist for Agra Circle of ASI Raj Kumar Patel said it seemed the women were preparing a reel for social media. However, there was no information if they were professional influencers or YouTubers, he said. They expressed ignorance about the restriction over such activities and were allowed to go after tendering a written apology.
Agra In yet another instance of violation of rules at the Taj Mahal on Sunday, four women performed ‘surya namaskar’ (a Yogaasan) on the red sand stone platform of the monumenrt till where making of video is permitted.
The fifth woman in the group recorded the video of the Yoga. Following this, ASI officials questioned the women, four from Agra and one from Aligarh.
“We came to know about the Yoga being performed on red sand stone platform on Sunday morning by a group of women,four of them from Agra and one from Aligarh,” said Prince Vajpayee, senior assistant conservator at Taj Mahal for Archaeological Survey of India,Agra office.
“On being questioned, these five women expressed ignorance about the restriction over such activities related to campaigning and promotion. We took a written apology from them and allowed them to go,” he said.
When contacted, superintending archaeologist for Agra Circle of ASI Raj Kumar Patel said it seemed the women were preparing a reel for social media. However, there was no information if they were professional influencers or YouTubers, he said.
This came close on the heels of Saturday’s incident in which a man was seen performing “sheershasan”, another ásan’ of Yoga on the white marble platform around the main musoleum of the Taj Mahal. A video of the incident had gone viral.
Expressing concern over such rule violations , president of Approved Guides Welfare Association, Deepak Daan while stressing on need for CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) being more vigilant, said it was the responsibility of everyone to check such incidents .
He asked guides of the association to make videos and inform ASI of CISF officials if they came across such incidents.
