AGRA: Union culture minister, Mahesh Sharma has said that he too is in favour of the same day ticket facility for Taj Mahal’s night viewing, which is at present are sold at a 24-hour advance booking, on full moon nights Talking to TOI, Mahesh Sharma said that as the matter is pending in the court, his department is pursuing it. He agreed that night viewing of Taj Mahal by tourists is an attractive option but many tourists are not aware of the prevailing rules and are unable to see the Taj in moonlight because of one day advance booking. He said, “We also want the same day ticket facility to start at the earliest”.Rajeev Saxena, Secretary of Tourism Guild Association said, “We have also submitted a representation to tourism secretary, Rashmi Verma regarding this during in herrecent visit to Agra”. He said that ASI should take up this matter on priority and pursue it properly for the benefit of the tourism industry.President of national chamber of industries and commerce, Agra and also Paryatan Mitra, Rajeev Tewari said, “We are going to meet the union culture minister in this regard as the advance booking system is creating hurdles for tourists who aren’t aware of the rules and resulting in a revenue loss for the ASI”. He said, till the same day ticket system is implemented, the ASI should at least make buying of moon light viewing tickets online, so that tourists can book them in advance.Superintending Archeologist, ASI (Agra circle), Bhuvan Vikram Singh said, “We can’t do anything as case is pending in the court”.Officials said the ASI has requested the apex court to allow sale of tickets up to 3 pm on the day of visit. "Out of the 400 tickets allowed to be sold a day, 20% of them may be allowed to be sold from the ticket counters at the ASI office till up to 2pm. Thereafter, if there are unsold tickets at booking counters, the same could be released online booking up to 3 pm," the ASI had pleaded before the court.The ASI has sought an enhancement in the duration of the visit from the present 30 minutes per group to 45 minutes. At present altogether 400 tourists in eight batches of 50 each are allowed to view the Taj for half an hour between 8.30pm and 12.30am. Seeking a change in this system, the ASI has sought permission for allowing 80 persons in five batches for 45 minutes each.Former Joint director of UP tourism, DK Burman told TOI that the ban on night viewing of Taj was imposed due to security reasons after threats of terror attacks started coming in 1984. Two decades latter, in 2004 the government lifted the ban and allowed viewing of Taj on 5 nights in a month, including two days before and two days after the full moon night. He said since the ban was lifted after the government submitted a detailed proposal to the apex court, any change in it can be made through court orders only.This year full moon nights (poornima) fall on April 29, May 28, June 27, July 27, August 25, September and October 24 and November and December 22.

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