Restrict Taj Mahal's visiting hours to 3-4 hours: ASI

To ensure better crowd management, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has proposed limiting visiting hours to the Taj Mahal to “a maximum of three-four hours”

On Monday, a bench led by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur also comprising Justice C Nagappan asked ASI’s counsel, A D N Rao, “How are you going to control the crowd inside Taj? There are a lot of people inside the monument at the same time.”

To which Rao responded that the body wants to limit the duration of visit for every tourist at the 17th century Mughal marvel, to deal with the problem of too many people present at the same time to see the Taj. “There are many visitors who take tickets at 7 in the morning and stay till the monument closes for public viewing,” Rao said.

According to a report in the Indian Express, he said that his team has also decided to issue tickets in different colours defining a specific session and duration. “Every session will have tickets in a particular shade. We want to limit the duration of stay to a maximum of three-four hours. With every tourist holding a ticket of a particular shade, it would be convenient to segregate them on the basis of permissible duration of their stay,” he said.

At present, a visitor gets only 30 minutes to spend at the monument and according to Rao; it is not enough to get a guided tour of the world famous monument. Therefore, he has requested the apex court to grant permission to his team to conduct five sessions of 45 minutes each for sightseeing inside the Taj to see if this module can help manage the crowd better.