I have written about this issue earlier too, but when I visited Safdarjung Tomb (Delhi) a couple of weeks earlier, I was again reminded of the same concept.
Why don’t we have good food outlets inside historical monuments?
This may sound a bit impractical but if taken seriously, the idea can generate a good amount of cash for the ASI, which again can be used for excavation, restoration, and upkeep of the historical monuments (I must mention that there are thousands of monuments in India that are still unprotected).
I love history and photography and the best way to fulfill both the passions is to visit historical monuments. You get to read about these places, history behind their construction, and also you get to shoot a lot of pictures. I presently put up in Gurgaon and therefore have Delhi monuments at my disposal.
I have been to Humayun’s Tomb, Qutub Minar, Safdarjung Tomb, Lodhi Tomb and Gardens, Mehrauli Archeological Park, Tughlaqabad, and Kotla Firoz Shah, etc. All of these monuments comprise an area where you have enter through a gate. This means that just adjacent to this entrance gate, there is an option of opening a nice food outlet.
The government can raise good amount of funds by renting the space to various food companies. This will help the visitors to enjoy some food and drinks, which right now they find extremely difficult.
Companies can rest assured that they will get some good return over their investment because most of these monuments enjoy good and considerable number of visitors per day. I can even foresee that if there is an option of eating out, this footfall of visitors may even increase, as lots of people want to couple eating out with their travel.
Government can clearly cash on this small business idea around the historical monuments. What practically happens still remains to be seen.
