jaipur ever since the rajasthan high court ordered closure of all commercial activities at the historic amber fort in view of its status as a protected monument since 1968 the lightandsound show and availability of the audioguides were also discontinued among other thingsofficials stopped son et lumihre lightandsound show considering that it too come in the ambit of commercial activities and is not an addon attraction for any tourist at any historical monument besides the asirecommended audio guides meant to facilitate a tourists trip sans any haggling by human guides were also considered commercial and put on pause till further ordersa blogger from australia who visited the fort in may wrote on trip advisor the amber fort was a highlight of my trip through the region dont skip the audioguide as it was the best of several i rented in india we really enjoyed our visit at the amber fortafter almost a year of hectic promotions across the country the lightandsound show had just began to do well we have been promoting the show at every trade fair people had even started asking us to place it on their itinerary said mukesh bhargava of delhibased integrated digital solutions who is on a fiveyear contract with the state government to run the show on publicprivate partnership basis he finds little logic behind the closure of the show while the asi is promoting such shows elsewhere in the country even the red fort a world heritage monument has been running such a show since the last 42 years so are others like the golkunda fort khajuraho and several other asiprotected monuments said mukeshit is an open secret that the guides were opposing any activity at the fort that would consume tourist time and attention they dont want the tourists to soak in the feel and ambience of the place or relax and have a coffee buy a souvenir or a memento or waste time at the lightandsound show because the extra time tourists spend at the fort would cost them the 40 commission they receive on any purchase from the shops outside said a source preferring anonymity no wonder the guides and the lapkas are having a hearty time these days in the absence of any regulation by the government the courts directives to allow small vendors to sell items for worship at a temple inside the fort as well as water and cold drinks there is only leading to proliferation of child labourscores of grimfaced children could be seen running after the tourists coaxing them to buy water and cold drinks in the fort premises when asked all that the officials at the fort have to say is what can we do as soon as they see us they run away