Free tickets at Taj Mahal: Over 1 lakh tourists visited on the last day of Shah Jahan's Urs

  • | Saturday | 13th March, 2021

Taj Mahal remained open on Friday due to the last day of the annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his death anniversary. On this occasion, entry was free for all tourists and nearly an unprecedented 1 lakh tourists visited the monument, according to ASI officials.

 

Taj Mahal remained open on Friday due to the last day of the annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his death anniversary. On this occasion, entry was free for all tourists and nearly an unprecedented 1 lakh tourists visited the monument, according to ASI officials.
As part of the ritual, the doors of the basement that provide access to the original graves of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, which otherwise remain closed, were opened for public viewing.

A member of the organising committee offered 1331 metre long ceremonial `chadar`. Every year, the Khuddam-e-roza (traditional caretakers of the Taj) committee offers a very long multi-colour ‘chadar’, representing different faiths of the country, on the original grave of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan during Urs.

“It was a double treat for us... we got free entry and were also able to see the original graves of Shahjahan and Mumtaz”, said Rakesh a tourist from Delhi, who was otherwise scheduled to visit the monument tomorrow.

Last year, all rituals of Urs were performed by ASI staff due to closure of the monument following Covid-19 lockdown, said the president of Urs committee Taj Mahal, Syed Ibrahim Hussain Zaidi, adding that this year besides performing the tradition of applying sandalwood paste on the graves and placing “phoolon ki chadar”, they made prayers for peace and harmony of the nation.

Meanwhile, the Agra Development Authority (ADA) has forwarded its pending proposal to hike the toll tax of the tourists entering the monument to the state government for its approval. According to officials, as per the proposal, the Indian tourists, who pay Rs 50 to enter the monument, will have to pay Rs 80, while foreign tourists will have to shell out Rs 1200 instead of Rs 1100.

Not only this, the ADA will also charge additional Rs 200 from tourists who would like to visit the main mausoleum, which means all tourists will have to pay Rs 400 instead of 200. With the new charges in place, domestic tourists will have to pay Rs 480, while foreign tourists will be charged Rs 1600. The proposal was first moved in 2019.


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