Qutab Minar, Delhi.
Getty Images.
Qutub Minar, the most popular monument in Delhi and second most popular monument in India (of course the Taj Mahal takes first place) has a new ticketing system in place this month. According to this government press release, the Archaeological Survey of India is trialing an e-ticketing system there until October 31. If it's successful, the system will eventually be implemented across all 116 of its monuments.
When I heard about the new system, I mistakenly thought that tickets would be available for purchase online. This was particularly so because the press release explained that, "The basic idea to introduce e-ticketing for the monuments is to make the current manual system of issue of paper tickets hassle free so that the visitors are not required to stand in queues wasting precious time."
However, the reality is that visitors must still line up at the ticket counter in order to get tickets. The only difference is that it's a printed ticket, not a manual one, that's issued! Hence, it's uncertain whether the new system will actually save much time.
On a positive note, the system should improve governance over revenue collection though. Qutub Minar generates an astonishing 10 crore rupees in entrance fees a year. Hence, it's important that this is properly accounted for and the possibility of malpractice in the current manual system is reduced.
Has anyone visited Qutub Minar this month? If so, how was your experience of the new e-ticket system?
To learn more about Qutub Minar, check out this great set of photos of Qutab Minar and short write-up, posted by one of the members in the forum. His photos of the stone work and inscriptions are particularly interesting.
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Is this the beginning of reducing the stodgy centuries old idea of a redundant workforce idling mulling about in offices while one person hand writes tickets all day?
I’d hate to see employees let go due to efficiency. Although a more comfortable ticketing process country wide could boost revenues once the word spread to foreigner and domestic travelers.
visited Qutub Minar with my younger daughter, went to the site after more than a decade, was pleasantly surprised to see all the improvements.The cleanliness of the place,the maintaince of the monument and the audio guide are all excellent positive changes,well done the organizers
Hi Anil, thanks so much for your feedback. It’s great to hear of all the improvements.