Now, view the world from Qutub top on your computer screen

Now, view the world from Qutub top on your computer screen
KOTA NEELIMA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4: Till now, it took some fertile imagination to visualise what the world looked like from the top of the Qutub Minar or from one of the Taj Mahal's minarets. Now, the Ministry of Tourism, through its Remote Presence project, will offer tourists the view from the top of some of India's World Heritage Monuments.

Under the project, the monuments, starting with the Qutab Minar, will be rigged up with wireless cameras. These cameras would send images from above to a computer monitor fitted in a kiosk at the base of the monument. Tourists can view these images, as well as manipulate cameras to get the view they desire.

The menu offers the tourist the option of tilting the camera or zooming in to a particular object of fancy, all accompanied by commentary on headphones.

The National Institute of Information Technology Limited (NIIT) has already conducted a trial at Qutub Minar for the Ministry of Tourism last December. The project is estimated to cost about Rs 15 lakh.

The project would also be implemented at the Taj Mahal, the Hammams at Red Fort and some parts of the Ajanta caves, apart from other World Heritage sites.

Says Ashwani Lohani, an official with the ministry of tourism: ``The Remote Presence project is mainly for those parts of a famous monument where a tourist is not allowed for technical or security reasons. Like the stairway in Qutub which was closed 17 years ago. Tourists would like to see Delhi from the top of the Qutub Minar. Because it's not physically possible to allow people go up the tower, this is the best way of giving the tourist a view from the bottom of the monument.''

The project was finalised for the Qutub Minar after consultations between the ministry and the Archaeological Survey of India. ``The possibilities are infinite. And it will contribute to increasing tourist interest in a site.For instance, there are parts of the Ajanta caves where light is so low that the murals cannot be seen. Now these would be visible to the world,'' Lohani said.

The dry run of the project was supervised by the senior manager at NIIT, Sanjay Gupta. ``The wireless cameras would be very small and would not disturb the contours of a monument. In the case of Qutub, the kiosks on the ground would be fitted in a nearby corridor. They will be coloured in a way that they merge in the background and do not stand out,'' he said.

The NIIT also hopes to make the facility available on e-mail to Netizens.