Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) president, Rajiv Mehra, has forwarded the feedback of tour operators, who visited the heritage sites in and around the city, during their participation at the 38th IATO convention in the city, a fortnight ago.
The feedback has been sent today to the Director General (Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi) Prof. Kishore K. Basa and the copy of the same has been forwarded to Secretary (Tourism), Government of India, Mrs. V. Vidyavathi; Secretary (Culture), Government of India, Govind Mohan; Principal Secretary (Tourism), Government of Maharashtra, Radhika Rastogi; Director (Tourism) Government of Maharashtra, Dr. B.N. Patil; Managing Director (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation)
Shraddha Joshi Sharma; District Collector (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) Astik Kumar Pandey; Regional Director of Archaeological Survey of India (West Zone) Dr K Lourdusamy and Superintending Archaeologist (ASI, Aurangabad Circle) Dr Shiv Kumar Bhagat.
The IATO president mentioned the feedback on different issues the tour operators had come across during their FAM tour.
There is an urgent need for a one combined ticket system at Ajanta Caves. The visitor has to pay four different charges including the parking charges, entrance ticket at T-point, shuttle bus boarding ticket and monument entry ticket.
In Ellora Caves, the capping of tourists must be made mandatory. Large number of tourists visit the site every day. The stone is degrading and steps are worn out due to the rush of tourists.
In Ajanta, there is a capping of 40 persons (maximum) per cave and permissible time to stay inside the cave is 15 minutes (maximum), but it should be followed religiously.
The shuttle buses (AC and non-AC) are of poor standard and disappoint tourists. The footboard of these buses is 2 feet high from the road. Hence the elderly persons; people having knee pain or disabled-visitors face hardship. There should be eco-friendly low floor minibusses or large bus with low footboards. Electric vehicles (like in Taj Mahal) or golf carts, especially for foreign guests, will work wonders.
Washroom facility is a major issue for the foreigners and the lady tourists at Ajanta Caves. The existing one is in pathetic condition and no separate washroom is there for foreigners. There should be multiple washrooms or else tourists have to walk a lot to reach it. Demand to restart toilet facility at ViewPoint. There are Indian style toilets at both the caves, therefore, there is a need to provide western seating WC for ladies and foreigners.
Need of benches equipped with sheds on the site and foot racks outside the caves.
There is no restaurant or authorised vendor to serve drinking water, tea/coffee, soft beverages or light snacks. Ajanta is a full day excursion so there is a need for a neat and clean eating point.
Tourist Visitor Centre should be opened permanently by leasing out to any private player. A small and new one has just opened by the name Green Ajanta is not sufficient.
Harassment by hawkers while approaching the bus stop, while returning to the parking, for shopping and eating is intolerable. This is painting a negative picture of the heritage site.
The construction of the road leading to Ajanta is pending for several years. Some portions of the road is single lane and there is heavy local traffic during the day.
These caves lack proper air connectivity. The flights from Delhi are either too early in the morning or too late in the evening. If one reaches by morning flight, the room is not available upon arrival and has to wait a couple of hours. If reaches late in the evening, he has to sleep in the night and start the visit the next day. There should be one flight in the afternoon which will serve both the purpose of getting rooms on arrival and visit to Ellora in the afternoon at least.
Mehra hoped that if the suitable action is taken upon the feedback then it may attract a large number of foreign tourists to Ajanta and Ellora Caves. The feedback has also been forwarded to president of Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF, Chhatrapati Sambajinagar) Jaswant Singh and Chairman (Civil Aviation & PR Committee of ATDF, Chhatrapati Sambajinagar) Sunit Kothari.