Crocodile spotted inside govt school in UP's Aligarh
Aligarh (UP), Sep 21: Panic struck the students of a government school here when a crocodile was spotted on the premises, school authorities said on Wednesday.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Diwakar Vashisht told reporters that the reptile was captured from the school in Qasimpur village on Tuesday has been released in River Ganga.
As the children and staff raised an alarm after they spotted the reptile, villagers armed with sticks rushed to their rescue and managed to corner the reptile, they said.
They locked the crocodile inside a classroom till district officials and State Forest department staff arrived and captured it, they said.
There are a number of rivulets in this area and river Ganga also flows nearby.
According to school staff members, a number of crocodiles have been spotted in the village pond and the villagers, on several occasions, have drawn the attention of the local authorities but in vain.
According to locals, in all probability, the crocodile somehow managed to make its way to the village pond from these rivulets during floods and reached the school.
The DFO said that steps have been initiated with the help of the village panchayat to investigate whether more crocodiles are inhabiting the pond.
If they are detected then they would also be captured and released in the river, he said.
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Taj Mahal top earning ASI monument through ticket sales from FY19-20 to FY23-24: Govt
New Delhi, Apr 3 (PTI): The iconic Taj Mahal in Agra earned the "highest income" through the sale of tickets among the ASI-protected monuments from FY19-20 to FY23-24, according to data shared by the government.
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared the data in a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha.
He was asked the amount that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has received from selling entry tickets to various monuments in the last five years, year-wise and monument-wise; and the monuments that have received the highest income through selling entry tickets in the last five years.
In his response, the minister shared the data in a tabular form for cycles of financial years ranging from FY19-20 to FY23-24.
According to the data, Taj Mahal earned the top slot for all five years.
The Mughal-era architectural wonder was commissioned by Emperor Shah Jehan in the 17th century and it is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
In FY19-20, the Agra Fort in Agra and Qutub Minar in Delhi were in the second and third positions.
In FY20-21, the Group of Monuments Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu and Sun Temple, Konark were in the second and third positions. In FY23-24, Qutub Minar and Red Fort of Delhi were in the second and third positions.
