Touts not allowed: Only ASI trained guides will be available at 360 Indian monuments
One of the bad things that travellers face at the Indian
monuments is the presence of touts- -those untrained and unregistered guides who
almost force you into hiring them for showing the place and telling you about
its history.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has come up with
a solution for this tourist harassment, reports The Times of India. ASI has
introduced a new guide policy that will be implemented in all of its 360
monuments across the country.
According to this new policy, ASI will select individuals
based on their merit and grant them a guide licence. Those who qualify for this
license, will then need to undergo a six-week training programme provided by
ASI.
Once this policy is implemented, these ASI licensed
guides will be the only ones who will be allowed to provide guide services to
tourists within the monuments that are protected by the central body.
"Guide licences issued by the tourism ministry would
be valid and deemed to have been issued under this policy. Licences issued by
any other authority would become invalid and no person would be allowed to act
as a guide at centrally-protected monuments once the policy comes into
effect," an ASI official told TOI.
ASI was prompted to bring about this policy after
receiving numerous complaints about untrained guides and touts harassing
tourists visiting Indian monuments. Commenting on this, an expert told TOI,
"Foreign tourists have a particularly tough time as they are usually
clueless about the norms and hire people posing as guides to tell them the
history and background of the sites".
The ASI policy, through the authentic guides, also aims
to provide tourists valuable information on accommodation, transportation,
places of interest, markets, medical aid, helpline, and more, apart from the
detailed information about national monuments.
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