10 Monuments to be open for public from sunrise till 9 PM
Union Culture and Tourism Minister of State (independent charge) Prahlad Patel announced that 10 centrally protected monuments across India will be open to public from sunrise till 9 p.m. Currently gates of most monuments are closed for visitors by 5:30-6 pm.
Key Highlights
Change in timings will be effective for a period of 3 years.
Extended timings will apply to-
- Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi
- Safdarjung Tomb in Delhi
- Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneswar
- Dulhadev Temple in Khajuraho
- Shekh Chilli Tomb in Kurukshetra
- Group of Monuments at Pattadakal in Karnataka
- Gol Gumbaj in Karnataka
- Group of Temples in Maharashtra (Markanda)
- Man Mahal in Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi)
- Rani ki Baav in Paatan, Gujarat.
Background
Proposal to keep some tourist sites open till 9 pm was 1st proposed by former Union Minister of State for Culture, and Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam who favoured that tourists should be given maximum opportunity to visit heritage sites.
Later a committee formed by two ministries (Culture Ministry and Tourism Ministry) to discuss proposals coming in from states had discussed 35 such monuments which were proposed to be kept open till 10 pm for public. However, a decision was taken by committee to introduce new timings in 10 of sites in first phase and restrict time till 9 pm.
