10 monuments, including Humayun’s tomb, to be open from sunrise till 9 pm, says Centre

New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: As a part of its efforts to make historical monuments more welcoming, the Culture Ministry has decided to keep 10 heritage sites, including the Humayun’s Tob, open for public from sunrise to 9 pm.

Union Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel confirmed this on Monday. At present, the gates of most monuments are closed for visitors by 6 pm

Apart from the Humayun's Tomb, the extended timings will apply to Safdarjung Tomb in Delhi, Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneswar, Dulhadev Temple in Khajuraho, Shekh Chilli Tomb in Kurukshetra, Group of Monuments at Pattadakal in Karnataka, Gol Gumbaj in Karnataka, Group of Temples in Maharashtra (Markanda), Man Mahal in Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi) and Rani ki Baav in Paatan Gujarat.

Patel further said that the change in timings will be effective for a period of three years.

"Some places in this list are temples that are popular both among tourists and locals. People also visit temples at night. Hence, a decision was taken to extend their visiting time beyond 6 pm," he said.

Earlier a committee was formed to discuss the proposals coming in from the states had discussed 35 such monuments that were proposed to be kept open till 10 pm for the public.

However, the committee later took the decision to introduce the new timings in 10 of the sites in the first phase and restrict the time till 9 pm.

At present, no popular monument is kept open beyond sunset.

The proposal to keep some tourist sites open till 9 pm was first proposed by former Culture and Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam who had said that tourists should be given the maximum opportunity to visit heritage sites.