Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and all other monuments to open from July 4

All monuments that were closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic can be opened from July 4, the India government has said.

“It has been decided that all the monuments can be opened with full security,” Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said in a tweet on Thursday.

Under ‘unlock-2’ which got underway on July 1, the government is trying to open up more activities outside containment zones. But the surge in the Covid-19 pandemic in many parts of the country has meant that people have largely kept away from destinations including monument sites.

The Taj Mahal, for example, has been closed since March 17. The Agra Fort has also remained closed.

Under ‘unlock-1’ that began on June 8, the Union culture ministry had announced that 820 centrally-protected monuments with places of worship on their premises would be thrown open to the public. But Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha had said the monuments under their jurisdiction will not be opened in wake of the coronavirus threat.

In Delhi, the monuments that were allowed to open include the Afsah-wala-ki-Masjid situated outside the west gate of Humayun’s Tomb, the Qutub Minar and Nizamuddin Dargah.

Rajasthan started allowing visitors into monuments without tickets for 15 days. It later halved ticket prices to spur more visits to the monument sites.