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

Only 650 people will be allowed to enter the Taj Mahal at a time when the monument reopens for visitors on Wednesday, officials said.

All 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, Agra District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh said on Tuesday.

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

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

"The visitors would not be allowed to touch any object on 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 open," he said while advising tourists to bring their own water bottles and carry sanitisers.