Thaindian News

Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh), March 24 (IANS) Two women tourists, an American and an Iranian, were attacked by a rabid dog at the 16th century Mughal capital of emperor Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri, sparking concerns about facilities at one of India’s most visited spots.

Travel agents, who filed a complaint with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Thursday, urged the conservation agency to free the complex of stray dogs.

Both the tourists were bitten Wednesday by a dog believed to be rabid. Angry hawkers and guides later attacked the dog, which died late evening.

Reports suggest that the Iranian woman was bitten as she was boarding a vehicle. An hour later, the American woman was attacked by the same dog.

The victims were taken to a health centre but no doctor was available there. Guides said the tourists were so infuriated that they returned without visiting the monument, a short distance away from Agra.

ASI in-charge at Fatehpur Sikri, Munazzar Ali, told IANS: “We have nothing to do with this. In our complex, we do not allow stray animals. The problem is at Uttar Pradesh’s Tourism’s Gulistan restaurant where the tourists were perhaps attacked by the dogs.0

“For the safety of the tourists within the Sikri complex, we have adequate forces to deal with canine nuisance. For everything that goes wrong, the ASI gets a bad name,” he said.

The canine, bovine and asinine nuisance, not to mention the simian menace, at the monuments in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort amongst other monuments, has been of some concern to both tourists and agents.

“In all the monuments… you have hordes of dogs and other stray animals which keep attacking the tourists. But nobody does anything about curbing the menace,” said Ved Gautam, a guide.