NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people queued up this morning outside the residence of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi, to pay their last respects to the departed leader.
Heavy security arrangements, including deployment of police, traffic and paramilitary personnel, were in place around the 6-A, Krishna Menon Marg bungalow in the central Delhi.
According to security officials present outside Mr Vajpayee's house, the gates of the residence were thrown open at 7:30 am for the public to pay homage to Mr Vajpayee.
His body would later be taken to the Bharatiya Janata Party's national headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
The final journey to the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, near Rajghat would begin around 1 pm. Atal Bihari Vajpayee died at Delhi's AIIMS hospital yesterday at the age of 93, following a prolonged illness.
52-year-old Yogesh Kumar arrived in Delhi with a group of people from Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand. The group covered a distance of around 500-km overnight in the hope to have one last glimpse of their beloved leader.
"I had met Vajpayee ji in 1984 when he had visited Uttarkashi en route to Gangotri. He visited the town once again in 1986," Mr Kumar said, as he displayed a picture of Mr Vajpayee with him.
"I have also brought along the Gangajal from Gangotri," he said, hoping to find an opportunity to see him. Another man, in his early 20s, said he had come all the way from Bihar to pay homage to the former prime minister.
"I believe we have lost a great leader in him," he said.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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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.