Bhubaneswar, March 31: The entry fee to ticketed monuments under the Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) in the state has been increased threefold. A notification in this regard has been released by the ASI today.

The ASI has five ticketed monuments under its jurisdiction - Konark temple, Rajarani temple, Udayagiri Caves and the Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri and Lalitgiri. Out of these, the Sun Temple at Konark is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Tour operators in the state are, however, unhappy with the decision. According to them, the increase will take a toll on tourist footfall. "This will definitely hit the tourist inflow especially at Konark. A number of budget local and foreign tourists will be affected by the decision," said Partha Sarathi Samal, a tour operator.

For the Konark temple, the price has been raised to Rs 30 from existing Rs 10 for Indians and tourists from SAARC (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives and Afghanistan) and BIMSTEC Countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar). For other foreign nationals, the ticket price has been raised to Rs 750 from Rs 250. Similarly, at the other sites the rates has been increased to Rs 15 from Rs 5 for Indians, SAARC and BIMSTEC nationals. For tourists from other countries, the price has been increased to Rs 300 from Rs 100.

The state ASI had received the notification regarding price rise, but the hike will not be implemented from tomorrow as in other parts of the country.

"We will start it from next week as the superintending engineer is out of town," said Purvi Shah, a senior officer of the Archaelogical Survey of India.

The money generated from the hiked entry fee will be used for development and maintenance of the monuments. Last year, it was decided that the hike would be implemented from November 1 but it was postponed due to pressure from tourist bodies.