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Huge turnout at Taj: Access to main mausoleum platform banned till August 15
Access to platform having main mausoleum has been banned at Taj due to unprecedented crowd turnout on Saturday where entry ticket has been waived from August 5 till August 15 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav which is being celebrated to mark 75 years of independence
Access to platform having main mausoleum has been banned at Taj due to unprecedented crowd turnout on Saturday where entry ticket has been waived from August 5 till August 15 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav which is being celebrated to mark 75 years of independence.
“We are witnessing a huge turnout these days at monuments in Agra. On Thursday there were about 75,000 visitors at Taj Mahal which posed some threat to safety of visitors climbing on to the main platform at the monument thus we had to take some steps to manage the crowd,” said Rajkumar Patel, the chief superintending archaeologist for Agra Circle of ASI.
“We have stopped public access to main platform having mausoleum at Taj Mahal for three days i.e. from August 13 to August 15,” said Patel.
According to rough estimate, another 70,000 visited Taj Mahal on Sunday. The number was confined due to rains but crowd is expected on Sunday and Monday, he said.
On normal days, tourist both Indian and foreigner had to pay ₹200 extra besides entry ticket if they want access to platform having main mausoleum.
On Friday when entry to Taj Mahal is closed, heavy rush of visitors was witnessed at Agra Fort. Entry to the Fort was stopped for about an hour and was restored only after the visitors inside the fort came out.
Exhibition at Taj Mahal
An exhibition was organized at Taj Mahal on Saturday as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav which was inaugurated by woman cricket player Poonam Yadav. She also inaugurated a plastic water bottle crushing machine at Taj Mahal, said Rajkumar Patel, the chief superintending archaeologist for Agra Circle of ASI.
