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Money can't buy you love. Unless, you happen to be a foreigner at the Taj Mahal in Agra. Last month, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism abruptly decided to hike entry fees at the world's most romantic monument from Rs 10 to $10 (Rs 460) per head. The entry fees to another 13 World Heritage sites across the country, including the Qutub Minar, Ajanta and Ellora, Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Khajuraho, Elephanta and the Sanchi Stupa, have also been revised.

The suggestion came from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has the onerous task of maintaining the country's heritage sites on a meagre budget. Reason? "Rising cost of upkeep," says B.S. Mathur, ASI's additional director-general. With over 5,000 sites under its care and an annual budget of just Rs 31 crore, only 10 per cent of India's monuments are being adequately looked after, he adds.

By increasing the ticket cost, the ASI hopes to make its sites self-sustaining. While foreigners will pay extra, Indian tourists will continue to pay Rs 10, a discriminatory practice common in countries like Egypt and China. The move is not unjustified. Abroad, tourists pay $8-25 (Rs 365-1,150) to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids or the Sistine Chapel, points out Anant Kumar, Union minister of culture and tourism, currently attending the World Travel Mart Fair in London. So why can't India do the same? Not everyone agrees with the timing though. Says Fabienne Leriche, India product manager of La Maison des Orientalistes, a Paris based travel agency: "To raise entry fees in the middle of the tourist season is downright cavalier."

Worse, visa fees to India were also raised in October from £20 to £31 (Rs 1330 to Rs 2,065) per head. The tourist industry is worried this will send out wrong signals. India currently gets eight lakh visitors a year—less than half the traffic to Indonesia—and the average stay is down from 27 days around 10 years ago to barely a fortnight.

Conservationists point out that the Taj has "marble cancer", the frescoes at Ajanta and Ellora are losing their lustre and the sculptures at Elephanta have been defaced by graffiti. Funds are sorely needed but the ASI claims it is helpless. Admits an official: "There's no money to pay decent salaries, let alone look after monuments." These sites also lack basic tourist facilities. "The toilets at Elephanta are so bad that we have to carry our own toilet paper and soap," says a Mumbai tour operator. At Agra, tourists wilt in the sun waiting for the hopelessly inadequate pair of "pollution-free battery-operated vehicles" to ferry them to the Taj as other vehicles are not permitted near the monument.

However, there is no guarantee that the money accruing from enhanced entry fees will be ploughed back into conservation efforts. At present all collections go to the government treasury rather than the ASI or the India Tourism Development Corporation.

" It is true India has been short selling her heritage," sums up Tasneem Mehta, council member of INTACH, a conservation organisation, "but if we charge international rates, we must provide international amenities." The theory has been approved. But whether the corollary will follow is anybody's guess.

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