New Delhi: Tourism Minister K J Alphons said if Italy can turn to a footwear firm to restore the 2000-year-old Colosseum in Rome, why Taj Mahal could not be leased out to a private company to restore it. He was talking about the Adopt-a-Heritage scheme of the tourism ministry at an event here. Citing the controversy over entrusting the Red Fort to the Dalmia Bharat Group, a cement company for maintenance, he revealed that the Taj Mahal is now on the list of monuments under the Adopt-a-Heritage scheme. He said, if the Colosseum can be adopted and managed by a footwear company why not the Taj?”
Under the Adopt-a-Heritage scheme, 31 agencies have been approved, so far, to adopt a total of 95 monuments/tourist sites located across India.