Taj Mahal to reopen from Wednesday, 650 visitors allowed at a time

At the Taj Mahal, which will reopen for visitors from Wednesday, only 650 people will be allowed to enter the premises at a time, officials said on Tuesday.

All the centrally protected monuments, museums and sites closed for around two months due to the Covid pandemic will reopen on June 16, an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order issued on Monday said.

While 650 tourists will be allowed inside the Taj Mahal premises at one point of time so that COVID-19 protocols are followed, such restrictions will not be in place for other monuments, District Magistrate, Agra Prabhu N Singh said.

Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Agra Circle, Vasant Kumar Swarnakar told PTI that the monument premises will be sanitised three times in a day.

"Masks will be mandatory for the tourists. Thermal screening of tourists would be done at gates and they would be sanitised before entering the monument premises," he added.

"The visitors will not be allowed to touch any object in the monument premises and they would have to follow social distancing norms," said Swarnakar.

"Tickets will only be booked online and no ticket counter will be open," he said, while also advising tourists to bring their own water bottles and carry sanitisers.