Entry Fee for ASI Monuments Increased

Posted on June 1, 2016

In a recent move entry to 116 key historical monuments under ASI across the country, including the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Ajanta-Ellora caves, have become costlier than earlier. The government affected a three-fold hike in the entry fee for the monuments for domestic visitors and 100 per cent for foreign tourists. For the 32 ‘World Heritage Monuments’, the ticket price has been increased to Rs 30 from Rs 10 for the domestic visitor, while the entry fee for foreign nationals has been hiked to Rs 500 from Rs 250. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries are treated on par with Indians and are charged similarly. For monuments other than the World Heritage ones, the entry fee has been increased three-fold to Rs 15 from Rs 5 for domestic visitors, while foreigners will have to pay Rs 200 against Rs 100. The enhancement comes after a period of more than 15 years as the last increase took place in 2000.

Visitors from SAARC and BIMSTEC countries, who are treated on a par with Indians, however, will be charged domestic rates. SAARC countries comprise Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan, besides India, while BIMSTEC includes Thailand and Myanmar besides India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

After 12-yr break, ASI hikes Taj Mahal ticket price by 200 %: There is a bad news for lovers of the Taj Mahal. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has hiked the ticket prices for monuments by a whopping 200% in all categories after an interval of 12 years. Unlike monuments in rest of the country, visitors to Taj Mahal will have to pay even more due to an additional fee collected by Agra Development Authority (ADA) as ‘toll tax’. Due to this, the new ticket rates at the Taj will be Rs 40 (Rs 10 towards toll tax) for Indians and Rs 1,250 (Rs 500 as toll tax) for foreigners.

ADA treats SAARC and BIMSTEC citizens as foreigners, so they will have to Rs 500 towards toll tax for visiting Taj. Altogether they will have to shell out Rs 530. Notably, the ADA also wants to hike its toll tax further. In December 2014, it had sent a proposal to the state government a proposal to hike the toll tax from Rs 10 to Rs 40 from Indian visitors while Rs 750 in place of present Rs 500 from foreigners. The state government is yet to take a decision on this.

(Sources Times of India)

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