'ASI sites' new ticket rates to come into effect from Apr 1'

The new rates for the ticketed monuments under the Archaelogical Survey of India will come into effect from April 1, Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma today said.
ASI has about 120 ticketed monuments under its jurisdiction out of which 32 are World Heritage Sites.
"The new rates will be implemented from April 1," Sharma told PTI when asked about the status of planned implementation of the new rates.
Last year, the ministry had announced it would implement the hike in the entry fee for monuments across the country from November 1, but it was postponed due to pressure from the tourism lobby on the ministry.

Navneet Soni, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the minister, said, "The new rates will be implemented form April 1 but a final call is yet to be taken on the quantum of the increase by the minister."
Under the preliminary notification issued last year, the ministry had announced that there would be a three-fold increase in entry fee at all designated monuments from November 1.

For category 'A' monuments, the ticket price was supposed to be raised to Rs 30 from existing Rs 10 for Indians and Rs 750 from Rs 250 for foreign nationals.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries are treated at par with Indians and are charged similarly.

For category 'B' monuments, the rates were supposed to be increased to Rs 15 from Rs 5 for Indians and Rs 300 from Rs 100 for foreigners.
Rates for filming purposes have also been proposed to b increased to Rs 1 lakh a day with Rs 50,000 as refundable security deposit for World Heritage Monuments and Rs 50,000 with Rs 10,000 security for other sites.