Mysuru: The entry to Statue of Liberty in New York costs $21, while the entry to the equally if not more famous, the Mysore Palace, used to cost Rs. 200 for foreigners and Rs. 40 for Indians. Since, there were lot of complaints from the foreigners about this discrimination, a uniform entry fee of Rs. 50 has been fixed. (However, the Mysore Zoo had already brought uniformity in rates sometime back).
This and other such decisions were taken at the Mysore Palace Board meeting chaired by State Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia, here yesterday, at the Palace Board Executive Officer’s premises.
This meeting was held in the light of the Rs. 12 crore proposal sent to the State Government to take up several development works inside the Palace premises.
The entry fee of Rs. 10 for children remains unchanged and for children below five years, it continues to be free. The ‘Sound and Light Show’ audio-track tracing the history of Wadiyar dynasty and the Vijaynagar kingdom, which was hitherto in Kannada, will also be in Hindi and English to facilitate the tourists from other parts of the country and the foreigners and it will be ready in another two months. A committee will be set up to oversee the beautification of the garden in front of the Palace.
State Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia (holding file) being accompanied by ADC T. Venkatesh at the Palace premises yesterday.
Keeping in mind the increase in tourist flow to the Palace, the decision was taken to increase the illumination timings from five minutes after the ‘Sound and light Show’ to 15 minutes and on Sundays and general holidays to one hour. In order to mitigate the problems of the tourists during peak season, two more ticket counters will be opened at the North Gate near Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple.
Khuntia also directed the officials to prepare a detail project report for 3-D projection in the Palace premises.
The other decisions include to convert Palace Board office into a paperless one by implementing e-office technology, to conduct Ugadi Utsav in March and April every year, to celebrate International Yoga Day in June, flower show in December and various cultural programmes in the Palace premises.
After yesterday’s fire mishap in the Palace where an ATM kiosk and ticket counter was gutted, it was decided to have a fire-fighting unit in place. A reverse osmosis plant with 1,000 litre capacity will be set up, green-toilets like the ones atop the Chamundi Hill under the Corporate Social Responsibility scheme will be constructed, were a few other decisions taken.
Deputy Commissioner and Palace Board Executive Officer D. Randeep, Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya, Additional DC T. Venkatesh, officials from the Department of Archaeology and Museums, PWD and Law Department were present at the meeting.
Glad to note that there won’t be any discrimination between the locals and foreign visitors for entry into the palace. Hope they do it all over the country. The exorbitant charges for foreign nationals can definitely hamper tourism which is one of the most lucrative ways of raising the revenue.
This was nuch needed move to have uniform entry price..because no other country will charge based on your origin.. Tourist is a tourist whether its from Mysore or Other country……God move.