Vijayapura: Though the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has opened their monuments in Bijapur for public on June 26 itself, but prevailing Covid pandemic has continue to make adverse impact on the arrival of the visitors to historic monuments such as Gol Gumbaz and other protected monuments.
According to officials of ASI here, while the average footfall was around 1500 to 2000 everyday during normal days, but now only around 200 to 250 people are coming to visit Gol Gumbaz after its reopening.
With the number of visitors declining, so is the collection of money taken from visitors at the counter.
The sources said that there was a daily collection of around Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 from domestic and international visitors. This collection has now sharply declined.
In the last two months when the monument remained closed for visitors during lockdown, there was no collection at all.
“ Even those who are coming to the monuments, most of them are locals who were bored of staying at home due to lockdown and wish to spend some time in gardens”, said the official.
Since the monument receives a good share of visitors from Maharashtra and South India, the visitors from these States are not coming because of either lockdown or restrictions imposed by Karnataka for their arrival.
“ As we know that only those who have Covid negative report or taken both doses of vaccines are allowed in Karnataka, therefore, the number of visitors has sharply declined. In the time of pandemic, people will visit only for emergency reasons and not for recreation”, he said.
As far as the international visitors are concerned, since all international passenger flights have been banned, the visitors are not coming at all.
Meanwhile, the officials have said that though there is no restriction on the number of people who visit the monument, no relaxation has been given in following of Covid protocols.
“ We are not allowing anyone inside the monument without the mask. We have kept sanitizers at the entrance for the visitors to get their hands sanitized”, the officials said.
