Indore (Madhya Pradesh): To avoid vagrants, hangers-on and the presence of antisocial elements at heritage sites in the city, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) and Smart City have implemented entry fees at two heritage sites of the city.
Smart City Development Limited officials said that an entry fee of Rs 10 had been imposed at Hari Rao Holkar Chhatri and at Gandhi Hall. Also, there are charges of Rs 5,000 for using professional cameras on the premises of these places.
Officials said that it had been noticed that many people organise gatherings and even programmes at the heritage sites of the city without informing the authorities concerned. People use these places for their commercial purposes.
“Looking at these things, a decision was initially taken to set an entry fee at these places so that no antisocial elements should go there or these heritage sites should not be used for commercial purposes. If someone needs to do any sort of shooting, they have to pay the charges,” said officials.
“It has also been noticed during an inspection that, because the sites were free of cost, ‘unusual’ people roam around these places and also spread garbage and, sometimes, damage the heritage site and its premises which have been made out of crores of rupees. Keeping these factors in mind, too, the decision of imposing an entry fee has been taken,” a senior official from Indore Smart City said.
The ISCDL have also deployed a security guard at the two premises of the heritage sites where they will keep an eye on people who will roam there without any purpose or do anything inappropriate causing inconvenience to visitors there.
Free Press raised the issue of antisocials’ presence at sites
§ Free Press, in its ‘Free Press Investigation’ column in the series, ‘How Smart are we, really?’ raised the matter of Gandhi Hall and negligence in its maintenance by the authorities concerned
§ Free Press revealed how abandoned the heritage site has been left, how unwanted visitors and antisocial elements have spoilt the dignified atmosphere of the Gandhi Hall, and how people are causing damage to the heritage of the city
