Aurangabad, Oct 9:
The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) chairman and collector Sunil Chavan has issued orders alerting the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI, Aurangabad Circle) to re-open the monuments in the district, at its previous regular timings, with all COVID protocols, from Sunday (October 10). Meanwhile, the tourism stakeholders heaved a sigh of relief as they are expecting a large number of tourist arrivals in the district during the Diwali vacation.
Sunrise to Sunset
There are five ticketed monuments in the district which are under the custodianship of ASI. They are world heritage sites - Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves - Daulatabad Fort, Bibi ka Maqbara and Aurangabad Caves. Of all these monuments, Maqbara will remain open from Sunrise to 10 pm, while others will remain open from sunrise to sunset.
The revised orders of 'Break the Chain' strictly mention adhering to all SOPs and Covid measures by tourists and stakeholders like wearing face masks or face shields, maintaining a social distance of 2 metres (or 6 feet) and using sanitisers. The DDMA has taken the orders after reviewing the situation and going through the letter of ASI. The DDMA also clarified that the order is revised on October 6, stated in the press release.
Earlier, the district collector had allowed partial re-opening of the monuments in the district from June 17. Hence, all the monuments were kept open from sunrise to 4 pm (not sunset) between Monday and Friday and closed on weekends and as per the Level III orders. The closure of monuments, especially on weekends, was causing unrest amongst the tourism stakeholders as according to them the industry was going through the rough weather. Many of them had become debt-ridden and the dependent staff lost their jobs due to no work.
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ASI in dilemma?
If the sources are to be believed, " the tourist season has commenced in the region. Hence, it was ready on its own but was waiting for the DDMA orders. Coincidentally, the revised order is received when there are two days holidays as the ASI is the central government office. Hence the circle office has forwarded the DDMA order to its headquarter (New Delhi) for further directives. Besides, the entry tickets to all the ticketed monuments are issued online and the collection aspect is handled by the Canara Bank. Hence, the ASI will inform about the re-opening of monuments to the bank and the issuance of online tickets. ASI is doing its best, but if the process consumes time, then the monuments would be re-opened from Monday!. It may be noted that Ajanta Caves will remain close on Monday and Ellora Caves on Tuesday as per its routine schedule.