TOI Impact: ASI takes down pic of Vatican church from Taj website

Agra: A day after TOI highlighted that a picture of the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, has been shown as Taj Mahal’s on an official website of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the image was taken down on Thursday. Officials said erroneous facts regarding the iconic monument would be rectified too at the earliest.
ASI officials clarified that the online ticket booking website was not developed by the department but by a third party with which it has collaborated and which has been carrying out monetary transactions.“However, this concerns the department and, more importantly, any such discrepancy will be rectified immediately,” they said.
The impact was visible on the website. The ‘Gallery’ section on the Taj home page has been taken down, so has the Vatican church picture.
On the website of ASI, there's a link in the right-hand corner that says `online entry ticket'. Clicking on this link takes one to asi.payumoney.com, created as the result of a collaboration between ASI, a public sector bank and a private online payment gateway. The `Gallery' section till Wednesday had several pictures of Taj Mahal in all its glorious beauty. But there was one discordant note — the photos include an image of the interior dome of St Peter's Basilica, complete with Latin inscriptions and frescoes by Renaissance artists.
However, UP Tourism and Agra administration are yet to rectify the mistakes on their respective websites which TOI had reported. According to the Agra administration website, construction of the Taj started in 1632 and ended in 1648, whereas it actually started in 1631. Work on outlying buildings and other structures went on till 1653.
The website has also not updated details regarding ticket prices. The new rates of Rs 40 for domestic tourists and Rs 1,000 for foreigners have become operational from April 1, 2016, but on the website the old rates continue to be displayed. Moreover, it has wrongly mentioned Taj’s opening and closing times as 6 am to 7.30pm, while in reality it is from sunrise to sunset, so it changes every day.
The website developed by UP Tourism, meanwhile, has a photograph of a mosque-like structure, showing it as the South Gate of the monument complex. It has also not updated information regarding ticket windows and locker rooms.
Additional district magistrate (city) Rajesh Kumar Srivastav has assured that he will look into the matter and get the errors rectified.