Three months ago, the Union Ministry of Culture issued a notification extending visiting hours in some monuments, including of the historic Gol Gumbaz here, till 9 p.m. However, the order is yet to be implemented at the Gol Gumbaz.
Normally, the visiting hours at all protected monuments that comes under the Archaeological Survey of India, which works under Union Ministry of Culture, is only till 6 p.m.
The decision to extend visiting hours was taken with an objective of attracting more visitors and allowing them to spend more time at these monuments during the evenings also.
But, according to sources, the implementation of the order is yet to be done as the required preparations have not been made.
The sources said that to extend visiting hours, facilities such as adequate lights at prominent places should be provided. Besides, more security personnel should be deployed to ensure the safety of the visitors.
“More security personnel are required to prevent visitors from going to restricted places during their visit to the monuments. In the case of Gol Gumbaz, visitors are not allowed to go to the dome or museum after 6 p.m. They are required to visit only the park and outer areas of the monument,” the sources said.
And, to appoint more security staff and install more lights, permission is required from the Union Ministry.
The officials here are not sure when they could obtain permission and implement the order which would allow visitors to spend some time at the monument in the evenings.
On several occasions in the past, the Gol Gumbaz has been illuminated at night giving the monument a stunning look.
