NEW DELHI: Tourist footfalls at Archaeological Survey of Indias heritage sites got off to a slow start on Monday as monuments reopened to public after more than 100 days.
Even as popular monuments like the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri remained off limits after the local administration in Agra decided against opening them to public, Delhis Qutub Minar and Humayuns Tomb and Rajasthans ancient sites at Bhangarh and the Kumbhalgarh fort were among those that saw some subdued interest. The number of visitors on Monday, however, were only a small fraction of what these ticketed monuments usually see, typically.
When TOI went through Archaeological Survey of Indias ticket sales data for ticketed heritage monuments across the country, Qutub Minar and Humayuns Tomb, two of the three Unesco World Heritage sites in Delhi, saw subdued interest with just under 100 tickets being sold online through the day, significantly lower than the limit of 3,000 visitors per day that the culture ministry had set. Humayuns Tomb, which typically receives between 6,000 to 10,000 visitors, daily, saw less than 60 tickets sold.
Other popular sites fared even worse. In Uttar Pradesh, while Agras monuments remained shut, there were no takers for the Buddhist sites in Sarnath. Same was the story at Sun Temple in Konark, the Elephanta Caves in Maharashtra, the group of monuments in Mamallapuram, and the Purana Quila in Delhi on re-opening day.
With coronavirus confining people to their homes, the overall enthusiasm for a days outing to heritage monuments remained below par across the cRead More – Source
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