AGRA: In a major development, the Agra district administration has increased the limit on the number of visitors to the iconic Taj Mahal to 15,000 a day. At the same time, the number of visitors at Agra Fort has been increased to 7,500 tourists per day.The District Administration and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) took the decision to increase the number of visitors to the monuments considering the trouble faced by tourists.
Apart from the visitor cap for Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, no other changes to the capping list was made for any other monument in the city. According to reports, the administration took the decision to increase the tourist numbers ahead of the new year after reviewing the COVID situation.
After remaining closed for almost 190 days due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort were opened for tourists on September 21, 2020. As per the Home Ministry guidelines, a maximum of 5,000 tourists were allowed to visit the Taj Mahal and a maximum of 2,500 at Agra Fort in a day. A large number of visitors were seen thronging the Taj Mahal premises soon after it was reopened. The first person to visit Taj Mahal after its reopening was Chinese resident Liang Chia Cheng Republico. Thermal screenings of visitors were done before they entered the premises.Due to a large number of bookings for these iconic sites in Agra, several tourists had to return without seeing the monuments. Hence, the district administration and ASI took the decision to increase the visitor cap.
