With an aim to ensure better convenience to visitors and to boost the revenue of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), e-ticketing system would be introduced at the famous Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves here by the end of this year
Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma announced this on Sunday after visiting the famous Jain caves.
The Minister was mesmerised by the architecture and sculpture of the 2300-year-old caves, but expressed his dissatisfaction over the dirty surroundings of the hills, also known as Kumari and Kumar parvat. He advised officials to work on the cleanliness of the place and include it in the PM’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
“Historical monuments like this are the prime attraction for tourists. We need to provide more amenities for the tourists to attract global visitors,” said Sharma while asking ASI to do more to attract tourists to the place.
Now the paper ticketing system is in place. Visitors to the Khandagiri and Udaygiri caves buy paper tickets from the counter and submit a part of it while going inside. The guards are supposed to tear a portion of the visitor’s ticket. However, some of them manage to sneak in without the tickets being checked and reuse and resell the untorn tickets to new visitors leading to huge revenue loss for ASI. The E-ticketing system will do away with this malpractice and generate more money for ASI enabling it to do more for the upkeep of the historical monuments.