Bhubaneswar: The 13th century Sun Temple at Konark remained out of bounds for visitors for nearly six hours on Saturday as local residents and a temple protection group protested against the Archaeological Survey of India’s decision to hike the entry fee.
Hundreds of tourists were seen waiting at the entrance to the monument as the protesters, who are members of the organization spearheading the agitation, locked the ticket counter.
On Thursday, the ASI announced a three-fold hike in the entry fees to historic monuments across the country for domestic visitors and 100 per cent hike for foreign tourists. According to the decision, the domestic visitors will have to pay 30 rupees instead of 10 rupees and the foreign tourists will have to buy a ticket at 500 rupees instead of 250 rupees earlier.
Along with the world heritage site at Konark, the entry fee has been hiked for 116 other monuments in the country. Now, visitors to the famous Khandagiri caves on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar would be required to pay three times the present fee.
However, the ASI notification said the tourists from South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation countries were treated on a par with Indians and charged similarly at the historic sites managed by it.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation is an international organization involving a group of countries in south Asia and southeast Asia. These are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The countries, which come under South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The ASI has revised the hike in the entry fees after more than 15 years. The last hike was in 2000.
The samiti is of the view that the hike would have an impact on the flow of tourists to the Sun Temple. “We are demanding for waiver of entry fee to this heritage site,” said Badal Das, president of the Konark Suraksha Samiti.
Things were normal till 9 am Saturday and the tourists were entering the temple premises as usual. The ASI’s counter at the entrance had already sold 500 tickets by that time.
But, the problems began once the samiti members reached the spot and picketed at the gate protesting against the hike. As the issue threatened to create a law and order situation, the local ASI officials locked the entrance gate.
Officials of the Puri district administration and the ASI rushed to Konark and held parleys with the protesters. Later, it was decided that a meeting with the Puri district collector on the issue would be held on Monday. Following this assurance, the samiti members withdrew their agitation and visitors were allowed to enter the monument. By then, it was already 3.30pm and most of the tourists had gone away.
“We will lodge a protest with the district collector and urge him to communicate our feelings to the Centre,” said a samiti member, who assured the authorities of no further agitation by them till the outcome of their meeting with the Puri collector became clear.
Puri district collector Arvind Agarwal said: “The ASI has taken the decision to hike the fees. We have no role in this. We will discuss the issue with the local people and convince them to allow tourists to enter the temple premises.”
However, tourists coming from far-off places were visibly disappointed, The Telegraph reported.
“I had come with my family to see the historical monument. But, we found the gate locked. It was disappointing. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to come back,” said Prasant Mohanty, a retired government official from Mayurbhanj district.