For so long, people paid a minimal entry fee to enter Taj Mahal. But that won’t be the same from now onwards as visiting the monument will be a tad costlier deal. The government has rolled out a notification saying that all categories of visitors will have to pay an extra charge of Rs 200 if they wish to enter the ‘monument of love’.
So far, the entry to mausoleum did not charge an additional fee and the visitors could just buy only one ticket and see everything they wish to. The idea of introducing an extra charge was proposed by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials previously this year as a crowd-management technique.
The ivory-white marble mausoleum which is enclosed in the basement of the tomb accommodates artistic replicas of the original graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal and is a fantastic tourist attraction.
The initial notification was published by the Ministry of Culture on behalf of ASI in September. Post that, objections were invited to the idea of the extra charge within 45 days.
After examining suggestions and objections, the Central Government decided that the entry fee to the ‘main mausoleum’ should be Rs 200 extra.
The entry fee to Taj Mahal costs Rs 40 for domestic visitors and those who are from SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries, and Rs 600 for other foreign visitors.
Now, the recent update means that all visitors from all categories will have to pay the additional charge if they want to enter the main mausoleum.
