Now, tourists to pay entry fee for Elephant Village (Hathi Gaon) in Jaipur

Jaipur: Rajasthan forest department has announced entry fee for tourists visiting Elephant Village in Jaipur. The fee will be charged in the name of maintenance and development of the village. A domestic tourists will have to pay Rs 50 for an entry ticket, while an international tourist will be charged Rs 300.

The entry of tourists was so far free. The new rates came into effect from Tuesday.

The development of the village is still underway. Only 25 percent of works related to the Elephant Village project have been completed.

Tourists visit the village in huge numbers to book elephant safari.

The Rajasthan government mooted the project to develop the village and decided to spend Rs 8 crore on it.

Of the total amount, Rs 4 crore were to be contributed by JDA, Rs 2 crore by elephant welfare society and Rs 2 crore by Rajasthan tourism department.

elephant village in jaipur. Image credit: Post Staff.

JDA is supposed to complete the project, but only 25 percent of works have so far been finished.

The administration of Elephant Village was handed over to forest department from the Rajasthan tourism department. As soon as the forest department was given the reins, it set up an elephant welfare society. In a society’s  meeting on Wednesday, the decision to make tourists pay entry fee for the Elephant Village was taken. The fee will be spent on the maintenance and development.

On the first day, nearly 55 foreign tourists and 53 domestic tourists visited Elephant village and paid the entry price.

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