New ticket system for Taj Mahal to reduce human impact

AGRA: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Monday enforced a new ticketing system for the Taj Mahal, aimed at reducing increasing human impact on the fragile 17th century white marble marvel.

Vasant Kumar Swarnkaar, the ASI chief in Agra, said the new ticketing system came into effect from Monday morning.

According to the ASI, visitors will now have to shell out an extra Rs 200 to enter the main mausoleum with the graves of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Domestic tourists were initially paying only Rs 50 only. Foreign visitors will also need to buy the Rs 200 ticket in addition to the Rs 1,100 entrance fee.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute had originally suggested two tickets, to help reduce the number of visitors to the main structure.

The tourism industry has not appreciated the increase, fearing this step could hit arrivals.

“We want people to pay more to limit the footfall,” an official from the Archaeological Survey of India, the government body responsible for upkeep, said.

“This will cut down the number of visitors to the mausoleum by at least 15-20 per cent and generate revenue for its conservation,” the official said.

The latest move comes only months after Indian authorities restricted the number of tourists to 40,000 per day. Previously up to 70,000 people would throng the site at weekends.

Experts say the huge flow of people is causing irreversible damage to the marble floor, walls and foundations.

Officials have also struggled to stop the white marble from turning yellow as pollution levels rise in the northern city of Agra.

Further damage is being caused by excrement by insects from the noxious adjacent Yamuna River, one of India’s most polluted waterways.

In July, Supreme Court threatened to either shut or tear down the monument over the failure of the authorities to protect it from degradation.

The court asked the Indian authorities to consult international experts to speed up the conservation efforts.