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Cape Town - India's newly elected Minister of Tourism, Mahesh Sharma, recently told tourism delegates that he would do his very best to reduce and remove beggars and ticket touts from India's beloved Taj Mahal premises in the future.
The Minister proposed that begging and ticket touting on the Indian heritage site and mausoleum be criminalised in order for the looters and touts to stop harassing tourist who come to appreciate the iconic Indian site.
Regardless of the massive Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, being arguably the most famous tourist attraction in the country, it has experienced a 10% decline in the number of visitors over the past year, reports Daily Mail. Sharma accounts this decline to plenty of tourists being harassed by beggars, ticket touts or opportunistic taxi drivers, guides and thieves.
He says both domestic and foreign tourists who visit the Taj Mahal leave feeling cheated, threatened and abused. He says touts, guides, auto and taxi drivers pounce on every opportunity to make a quick buck, and have no scruples in misleading and misinforming visitors to extract money.
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
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