Coronavirus in India: All 3693 monuments in the country including Delhi’s Red Fort and Qutub Minar closed till May 15

In view of the deteriorating condition of Corona, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has banned the entry of tourists to all the monuments of the country under its control till May 15. All the monuments will remain closed for a month. In this regard, orders were issued by NK Pathak, Director (Memorial), ASI, late on Thursday. It said that these orders should be implemented with immediate effect. Earlier, all monuments in the country were closed since late March 2020 when the lockdown took place. After this, the number of tourists was allowed to open all the ticketed monuments on July 6 by limiting the number of tourists. The capping was lifted from the number of tourists on December 19 when Covid cases were down.

There are 3,693 monuments under the ASI in the country. Of these, Delhi has 174 monuments. Tickets are sold in 143 monuments across the country. These include 11 ticketed monuments in Delhi. The monuments in which tickets are stamped in Delhi include the World Heritage Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, National Monument Old Fort, Khan-e-Khana Tomb, Kotla Feroz Shah, Jantar Mantar, Safdarjung’s Tomb, Hauz Khas Complex and Tughlakabad Fort etc. Millions of tourists visit the major monuments every year till the year before 2019. Among these, tourists have reached 28 lakh in Lalkila in a year, 31 lakh in Qutub Minar, 5 lakh in Humayun’s Tomb, four lakh in Jantar-Mantar, four lakh in Purana Qila. Foreign tourists have reached Humayun’s tomb the most. There are 4 lakhs in a year, 3 and a half lakhs in Qutub Minar, 1.5 lakhs in Lal Qila.