India Entry tickets - Unfair practices

goamit

This should be of concern to all travel freaks to India and those who cant bear malpractice in the system.
Recently Indian Tourism bureau has launched an awareness campaign
Atithi Dev Bhavo ( Guest is God) through their ads they are trying to educate Taxi drivers,guides how to behave with the tourist and create a good impression along with proper services.
At the same time a big scandal is just around -when foreign guest purchase USD price entry tickets to monuments on entry at the gate the security guard will check ur entry tickets and is suppose to tear of the half part and return the same back to you.The Guards play a wicked game they take your USD ticket and they give you the torn part of ticket which was left from previous persons ticket .That means the ticket you purchased is not utilised it stays in the palm of the guard and it goes back to the cabin for recycle .Just imagine a basic USD ticket is Rs 250 and how many times it is being recycled.

Please make sure that you buy your own tickets frm the counter
do not take help of guides
make sure your purchased ticket is being utilised and you are not been handed over somebody elses torn ticket and your ticket being recycled
to make corruption money or so called bakshish

Be Alert and help India

Nick-H

Eh? They take your ticket and give you the previous guy's torn ticket? What did they give him, then? sounds like there must be one torn ticket for every visitor, so every ticket gets torn. But then, my brain doesn't have a right side so I'm probably missing something obvious.

Anyway.... this 'scam' may be putting money in the pocket of the staff, but at least it isn't taking it out of ours, as we pay once. Frankly; I'm not a policeman and I'm not gong to worry too much about this. If it was blatantly obvious ---but I'm sure it wouldn't be.

The real scam is the dual pricing system.

<runs for cover> there are a number of IMers that think the dual pricing system is just fine.

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mridula

I wonder about the dual pricing system, why are we doing it? Are there any official explanations? I find it uncomfortable, to say the least.

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steven_ber

In an ideal world the upkeep costs would be mainly gained from an increased charge for foreign tourists, thus keeping the cost down for domestic tourists whose visit may be of educational value.

However, I doubt this is the main reason for the higher charges.

Apologies to our Indian members for the use of the word 'upkeep' when talking about monuments etc., I suspect this word has no translation or meaning in any Indian language.

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kazintrepid

As a foreigner currently residing in India I am very accustomed to the dual pricing system. Indian rate vs Foreigners rate. At the end of the day millions of foreigners travel to India each year and the upkeep of airports, monuments, temples etc can not be sustained on the Indian entrance fees alone. The significant difference in price is because there is no way most indians can afford to pay the foreigner rates and they would not be able to afford to travel around India to see there own country if entry fees did not match their income.

Depending on your visa and length of stay as a foreigner you can apply for a resident permit for the validity for your visa. This is usually for visa's over 1 year ... busines, x-entry etc. These are got through the FRRO offices and once you have one you are then entitled to the Indian rates for everything just like a local.

In reference to the so called 'scam' at monuments on tickets. I may have the wrong end of the stick to your story though I think what you will find is they do this to save on tickets. If they recycle the foreigner's ticket then they don't have to keep printing new ones. At the end of the day you got in for the right price and you didn't have to pay any more and you were given a ticket stub to carry throughout the moment so is there really a problem?

Everything we see isn't always a 'scam' sometimes it is a system created out of convenience and a way to save money.

Hope this helps.

jyotirmoy

Some kind of anomaly exists every where. Both my daughters travelled to Europe with us & they had ISC cards but at almost all museums we were told only the ISC card holders of EU were entitled to student discount.

Nick-H

Thank you steven, for one of the funniest posts on IndiaMike.

I'm about as much impressed by the arguments "in favour of" dual pricing as I am by attempts to convert me to Christianity. It is as if people think we haven't ever seen, heard, or thought of something vital. Seen it, heard it, thought about it; thanks but no.

Mind you: perhaps I protest too much. I've visited exactly two monument sites in the past twelve months. One had dual pricing, the other did not.

The one that did not, mind you, charged over Rs1,000 for taking a video camera inside! What's that about? a relic from the days when tghey were so expensive that only a professional would own one?

traceyam

What are the specific requirements for the resident permit? Do you really think that if a gori flashed it, I'd get the same price as an Indian national?

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mridula

Steven_ber have you ever been to Bahai Temple or Pragati Maidan in New Delhi? I know what you said aboveis true to lagre extent but how the heck can I let it go completely unchallenged?

steven_ber

Despite having been to Delhi twice, I've seen neither, but I must also be one of the only people who've been to Agra and not seen the Taj Mahal.

My comment was a poor attempt at a joke, but sadly the joke is only an exaggeration of my general feelings about the state of many of India's treasures.

A good topic for a new thread would be Upkeep v costs v harsh climate, hopefully that thread could include examples of places that are well looked after as well as places that are neglected.

Nick-H

Being entitled is one thing: getting is another.

A friend of mine recently flashed her pukka Indian passport to be told, "this was issued in London: it doesn't count". She asked the guy what he would do if he happened to be in London when his passport ran out --- and got her Indian rate.

kazintrepid

Everywhere I have been from booking flights, buses to tourist attractions, etc with my resident permit I have got the Indian price. Makes a bit diference to your travel budget.

You need to have a visa for over a year and you apply through one of the FRRO offices. To find specific details best to go to the indian consulate website in your area and get the specific details from them.

Sama

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sezegnin

Why on earth would you think that?

sirensongs

In case you haven't noticed, the monument's aren't maintained, even with our increased fares.

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