Agra: After recovering from COVID-19, Gaurav Shukla went with his family of four to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. While he was parking his car near the magnificent monument, he was approached by a man selling him Taj Mahal entry tickets - at inflated rates. The Rs50 ticket (for domestic tourists) were being sold for Rs200. But, luckily, Gaurav was already in possession of entry tickets, booked online, so he refused. But not everyone is lucky like Gaurav.
In the beginning of November 2020, many tourists approached the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Agra Circle Office, complaining about the black marketing of Taj Mahal’s entry tickets. This forced the superintendant of ASI, Vasant Swarnkar, to write to the district magistrate and police about the black marketing of tickets. After this, police arrested half a dozen people under Section 151 of the code of criminal procedure.
'Lapkey'
The arrests haven’t dampened the spirit of black marketeers. The ASI official intercepted an unlicenced tour guide called ‘lapkey’ in the local dialect, entering Taj Mahal twice in a day with different tourists. Enquiries revealed the visitors purchased tickets in black from the said ‘lapkey’ guide on his two different identity proofs. And he also charged his guide fee from the tourists. The guide was let off by the ASI official after a stern warning.
In a similar incident, an ASI official tracked another visitor entering Taj Mahal with his ticket not carrying his identity printed on it. He had also purchased the ticket in black. But he refused to file a police complaint against person who sold him the ticket in black.
Only 5 tickets
To curb black marketing of tickets, the ASI has brought new rules. Now only five tickets for adults and three for children at a time can be booked. Earlier, a person could book 20 tickets online. Vasant Swarnkar said he all visitors’ identities will be printed on each ticket. The visitors’ entry will be allowed after verifying their identity.
Cumbersome process
Local tourism industry has opposed the identity move of ASI. According to Sandeep Arora, a hotelier, it is a cumbersome process requiring lots of visitor time. This process had been in force earlier, but had stopped last year after travel agents urged the tourism ministry to remove the tiring process of filing names of each tourist while booking tickets online.
A police officer from Tourist Police station in Agra, on the condition anonymity, said: “The black marketing of Taj Mahal tickets started after the daily limit of visitors to Taj Mahal was capped at 5,000, including adults and children by the cultural ministry when the monuments re-opened on September 21 after the COVID-19 lockdown. This gave an opportunity to lapkey guides of Agra and surrounding shopkeepers, to buy bulk tickets in advance and sell them in black”.
Tourism Guild Agra’s Vice President Rajiv Saxena said the issue of black-marketing of tickets could be resolved by increasing the number of visitors.
