1:45 PM
Kuldeep
AGRA the town of city, home to a number of India's most opulent heritage sites, as well as the monument to immortal love - the Taj Mahal, last week saw new colors filling up its skies.
Organised by India's 1st and largest industrial hot air balloon company, Sky Waltz, in association with the state government, the first-edition of the Taj Balloon competition commenced last weekend.
"This competition isn't simply to sell tickets and create a large profit, however it's chiefly geared toward giving this ancient town a brand new perspective," Samit Garg, founder-director of Sky Waltz, told IANS here.
"Agra is understood everywhere the globe for its several splendid Mughal-era buildings. we tend to draw a bead on to relinquish tourists a distinct read of those structures and additionally to relinquish an extra boost to the city's booming business enterprise," he said.
Sky Waltz, based in 2008, created its 1st hot air balloon flight in 2009 in Jaipur. the corporate provides industrial balloon expertise in Jaipur and Lonavla and charter ones at Pushkar, Neemrana, Hampi and Jodhpur.
It additionally started flying its biggest balloon with a capability of twenty four folks at Jaipur since August.
The company is about to host the coming four-day Pushkar International Balloon competition from Nov nineteen, started in 2010.
Garg is about to begin regular hot air balloon rides in city within the close to future in response to what he referred to as was an awesome response from tourists and locals.
"We have initiated talks with the UP government to show this into an everyday attraction. If all goes well, the rides ought to begin from early next year," he said.
The price ticket for the ride is priced to a small degree on the vessel facet, at $250 (Rs.16,000) per person.
"The costs ar on the vessel facet since the back-end prices of those balloons ar terribly high. we've got to import the fuel, the fabric of the balloons and that we additionally pay our pilots nearly an equivalent remuneration as a poster craft pilot. So, keeping of these things in mind, we've got set these costs," Garg aforesaid.
"This is one-of-a-kind expertise and to avail this chance dishing out alittle additional may be afforded...."
The competition enclosed free and bound flights. Balloonists from twelve countries, as well as the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and European country, participated within the event.
Of the fifteen balloons that participated, 3 were provided by Sky Waltz, the most important one mensuration 10,000 cuboidal metres.
The balloons took removed from the ghats of the Yamuna stream early within the morning associate degreed maintained an altitude of a minimum of o1,000 metres.
However, the participants were somewhat thwarted because the Taj Mahal and therefore the different monuments were barely visible shrouded in thick early morning haze.
"I was therefore excited that i might get associate degree aerial read of the Taj and therefore the different buildings, however when rousing therefore early and with most anticipation, all I may see was a silhouette that additionally disappeared in jiffy," a tourer from Indian capital aforesaid.
"Stagnant water pools, unsound buildings and filth were the sole things I may see from up there," a tourer UN agency didn't wish to be named, said. obtaining a better perspective might not forever yield nice expertise.
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