Now, Turkish man enters Mehtab Bagh with drone

AGRA: Security of Taj Mahal was breached again on Thursday, the second time in a week, when a tourist from Turkey entered the Mehtab Bagh complex with his drone.

The security personnel, however, stopped him from flying it.

Mehtab Bagh is a ticketed site on the other side of Yamuna in the backdrop of Taj Mahal. The foreign tourist, Emre, 28, was allowed to go when he expressed ignorance about the restriction on flying drone near Taj Mahal.

The incident, however, exposed the security at the ASI protected site of Mehtab Bagh, where checking is undertaken by personnel of a private agency hired by the ASI. The tourist’s

drone should have been stopped at the gate, as even edibles are not allowed inside Mehtab Bagh, said locals.

“The tourist was stopped from

flying drone by Taj security personnel deployed on the other side of Yamuna. On questioning, the tourist said he was unaware about restriction on flying drone and was thus allowed to go,” stated Jitendra Dwivedi, in-charge of Tourism police station. “The incident took place around 7.30 am and the tourist violating norms was identified as Emre, 28, from Turkey,” he stated. On October 3, Gui Guanxiong, 26, a tourist from Beijing had entered the Taj premises with a drone but was stopped from flying it when he reached the Royal Gate. In that case too, the CISF personnel had failed to stop the camera at the entry gate during frisking that takes place at gate of Taj.

Earlier in August, a tourist from Israel, Omri Taob, flew a drone from the rooftop of a hotel south of the monument.

The police seized the gadget and allowed the tourist to go after taking a written apology from him. But the cops registered a case against the owner and staff of the hotel because they violated Agra DM’s orders prohibiting drones in no-flying zone over Taj. In February 2017, the district magistrate had laid restrictions on flying drone near the Taj Mahal. But foreign tourists were often found violating norms on the pretext of ignorance about norms.The police had in the past initiated action against hotel owners in case foreign tourists were found flying drones from roof-tops of hotels located near Taj.

The cops had asked hotel owners near Taj to place notices at the reception and inform tourists, especially foreigners, about the restriction on flying drone near the Taj. However, the guidelines seemed to have had little impact.