Agra: Days after five women issued an apology for doing yoga at the Taj Mahal, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has said it will be putting up signboards warning against such activities.
Prince Vajpayee, senior assistant conservator at Taj Mahal for the ASI’s Agra office, confirmed this and told ThePrint that ASI has received a written apology from the women.
The women apologised after a video of them doing the ‘Surya Namaskar’ on the red sandstone platform in front of the monument went viral and kicked up a row. This came days after another viral video showed a man performing sirsasana (headstand) just behind the main mausoleum.
While photography is allowed at the Taj Mahal except in the main mausoleum, video cameras cannot be carried beyond a designated point.
“As soon as they were spotted, ASI staffers stopped the women from doing yoga at the Taj Mahal and asked them for a written apology. However, no action was taken against them because they claimed they were unaware it was against the rules,” Vajpayee said.
The ASI repeatedly warns tourists that videography isn’t allowed inside the complex beyond the red sandstone platform that encircles the main mausoleum, he further said, adding: “But hardly anyone pays attention as this rule is largely unenforceable because people carry cell phones to the main monument anyway.”
However, some from the local tourism industry question the restriction on an activity “as harmless and as non-commercial” as yoga. According to Prahalad Agarwal, president of the Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber, several such videos are taken inside the Taj Mahal but the ASI catches only a handful of people.
“Besides, even if a tourist clicks himself performing yoga, there’s no brazen violation of the law,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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