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India: Taj Mahal and other protected monuments reopen today

New Delhi - Visitors can book their entry tickets online

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The Taj Mahal and other India’s Union government protected monuments, which were closed two months ago in the wake of the second Covid-19 wave, reopened on Wednesday (June 16), the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said.

Visitors have been allowed to book entry tickets online and only 650 allowed at a time inside the Taj Mahal.

However, no offline booking facility would be available, an ASI official said.

India’s Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel has signed an order to this effect.

All the monuments and museums protected by the Indian government, including Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Ajanta Caves, were closed on April 15 following a second and lethal wave of the viral outbreak.

The monuments were closed for more than 100 days as part of the nationwide lockdown last year.

Altogether, 3,691 protected monuments and archaeological sites maintained by the ASI were closed for visitors on March 17, 2020.

They were allowed to reopen from July 6, 2020.

The Taj Mahal, which sees up to eight million visitors annually, remained closed till late September last year, as it came under a “containment zone”, as per Agra district authorities.

Earlier, the number of visitors was capped at 5,000 a day (in two slots), while that of other popular monuments was capped between 1,000 and 1,500.

However, the Red Fort in Delhi continues to remain shut since January 19 after bird flu cases reported inside the premises, followed by the January 26 violence by protestors.

• India