Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The Aurangabad Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is organising various programmes as a part of Independence Day celebrations, from August 2 to 15.
According to the Superintending Archaeologist (Aurangabad Circle) Dr Shiv Kumar Bhagat, “ The Independence Day celebration will be held at each monument in our jurisdiction.
The celebration has been divided into two parts. The first part consists of drawing tri-colour through rangoli. A big rangoli drawn at the entrance of each monument will welcome the tourists on the day. Besides, each monument will have a display of tri-colour flag. The second part includes activities such as taking our tiranga rally with the participation of students and different cultural and social organisations (like bicycle association, trekking association etc). A bicycle rally will be taken out at Ajanta Caves, Heritage Walk will be conducted in the city from Makai Gate to Bibi ka Maqbara; a rally comprising Trekkers Group will be taken out at Daulatabad Fort, etc. All these programmes will be conducted in three phases from August 2 to 15. I appeal to the students and residents to participate in the rallies and events taken out by ASI staff at each monument in large numbers.”
Illumination of the ‘Taj of Deccan’
The ASI will be illuminating the city’s pride Bibi ka Maqbara and Chand Minar (at Daulatabad Fort) from August 9 to 15. The superintending archaeologist reviewed the preparation of the illumination with the respective conservation assistants on Monday and gave them necessary instructions. Maqbara remains open for the tourists till 10 pm.
Be Responsible Tourist
It may be noted that the entry to all the ticketed monuments is free on account of the Independence Day (on August 15). It has been observed that every year, the sudden rush in the flow of visitors on Independence Day becomes a challenging task for the ASI officials and personnel to handle the rush and safeguard the monument simultaneously.
Hence to avoid any untoward incident, the ASI officials have made an earnest appeal to the visitors to act responsibly to avoid any kind of untoward incident. Besides, do not dare to touch or violate heritage rules as the violation may attract penal and strict action on the spot, said the ASI office.