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Shaniwarwada, Aga Khan palace reopen for tourists
We opened the doors of Shaniwarwada and Aga Khan Palace at 9 am and it will remain open until 5pm, said officials
PUNE The doors to Shaniwarwada and Aga Khan Palace, archeological sites, reopened on Friday, after six months, post the second wave of Covid-19.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been maintaining all sites under its care during the Covid restrictions, including Shaniwarwada .
Pune district collector Rajesh Deshmukh on September 16 released an order allowing all ASI monuments in Pune district to reopen with immediate effect.
“I received a request from ASI and I allowed the sites to be open, but they have to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the ministry of health and family welfare, and the health and cultural affairs departments,” said Deshmukh.
“We opened the doors of Shaniwarwada and Aga Khan Palace at 9 am and it will remain open until 5pm. There is no change in the ticket price for tourists, although they will have to book online and follow the protocol which, includes maintaining required physical distance, wearing a mask, hand-washing and sanitisation while at the monuments,” said Gajanan Mandaware, conservation assistant, ASI.
The city boasts of three archeological sites, Pataleshwar temple, Aga Khan Palace and Shaniwarwada.
The footfall recorded at Shaniwarwada on Friday was 40 tourists, while Aga Khan Palace had 30 visitors.
Dattratay Kolhapure from Chinchwad said, “It is indeed good to see the massive doors to Shaniwarwada open. Especially when we make this trip into Pune for Ganpati darsha, we also stop to see the wada.”
Sachin Kshirsagar from Jalna said, “There is no santitiser kept at the entrance of Shaniwarwada and the security should be checking people entering the site. I see people not using masks after entry.”
Pataleshwar temple is still closed and the officials at the site said that since the order was released late last night the temple will open on Saturday.
