Aurangabad, Mar 1 (PTI) The visitor centre set up in 2013 at Ellora caves, a world heritage site in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district, has been reopened for the public after a gap of five years and it has been revamped, a senior official said on Wednesday.
A similar facility set up at Ajanta, rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments, which was also shut since 2018, is being revamped, the official said.
These centres were set up by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in co-operation with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
These visitor centres or interpretation centres were built in 2013 by spending Rs 125 crore in two phases, the senior MTDC official said.
They remained shut since 2019 due to non-payment of water and electricity bills worth Rs 5 crore, he said.
“These centres have facilities like audio-visual presentations and library, which help in sensitising tourists about the world heritage sites before they visit the actual monuments,” MTDC General Manager Chandrashekhar Jaiswal told PTI.
Another official said that after clearing the electricity and water dues, the Ellora visitor centre is now made operational and open for tourists.
This centre serves as a one-stop location for information about the history of Ellora caves complex.
Jaiswal said the issue of this non-functioning visitor centre was discussed with state Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, following which the outstanding amount was cleared on priority basis, Jaiswal said.
According to an official, the two-day inception meeting of W20 (Women 20), an official engagement group under G20, concluded on Tuesday at the Ellora visitor centre. PTI AW NP NP
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