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Backward Federation for quota within quota in Women Reservation Bill:
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Govt. proposes steps for increasing
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Reservations: Dilemmas Galore
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Muslim group details Srikrishna Committee on discrimination:
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Dust,
vanishing greenery threaten Taj
Monday, April 19, 2010 10:08:22 AM ,
IANS |
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 Taj City Agra slips to third among great places in India:
The sheen
of Agra, the city that houses the
Taj
Mahal,
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Agra:
The Taj Mahal and other heritage monuments in and around Agra are
facing a major threat from dust-laden air. Unabated construction is
making the city’s green cover disappear and drying up water bodies,
adding to the dust levels.
“The collision (of the dust with the marble) results in
micro-scratches that retain moisture which attracts pollutants and
gaseous substances,” said P.C. Gupta, head of the Archaeological
Survey of India’s (ASI) chemical department.
The dry westerlies from the Rajasthan desert are sand-blasting the
white marble mausoleum and the first question in the minds of many
tourists visiting the Taj is whether it is turning yellow?
The suspended particulate matter (SPM) level in the ambient air
around the Taj Mahal is over 350 micrograms per cubic metre, much
above the permissible standard of 100. In the city and around other
monuments, it could be much higher, Gupta told IANS.
The chief reasons are the rapid increase in vehicular movement, lack
of water in Yamuna river and poor afforestation on the western
periphery of the city, he said.
Surendra Sharma, president of Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation
Society, questioned the success and validity of a whole lot of
exercises undertaken to bring down the air pollution level when the
SPM and dust levels have not come down.
The abnormally high temperature in March and April have dried up all
water sources and the dust storms have raised the SPM level to a new
high.
Mughal emperor Akbar’s abandoned capital at Fatehpur Sikri is
equally threatened by illegal mining activity all around and lack of
water to green the surroundings.
No government department has any idea or plan to remove the garbage
dumps that have come up on 80 acres of the incomplete Taj Heritage
corridor - work on which was ordered to be stopped by the Supreme
Court in 2003 - between the Taj and the Agra Fort.
“The Supreme Court has done justice by staying the development of
corridor at the site. However, the unfinished project is actually
causing lots of environmental problems,” said Ritesh K. Sharma, an
activist of rights group LegalMitra.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials have said
repeatedly that the dust level in the whole Taj trapezium cannot
come down until there is massive tree plantation all around and
water in the river Yamuna round the year. The ASI last year sent a
proposal for a barrage on the river but no action has been taken.
Despite crores of rupees spent over the past 15 years, the Yamuna
behind the Taj is still dry. Urging efforts to save the river,
Mughal historian R. Nath said: “The water in the river will absorb
all the pollution and dust and also strengthen the base of the
massive structure.”
Stretches of green cover along the Western periphery of the city and
the southern side have vanished to make way for residential
colonies. Community ponds have also disappeared and there is no
trace of the dozen-odd Mughal gardens and with only their names like
Bagh Farzana, Begum Samru Ka Bagh, Bagh Muzaffar Khan and so on
surviving.
Road building activity all around the Delhi-Kolkata national
highway, the Jaipur-Agra highway, and now the Jaypee group’s most
ambitious expressway connecting Greater Noida to Agra along the
river bank have also taken a heavy toll on trees and greenery.
The new townships proposed to be built by the expressway authority
all the way from Noida to Agra will further deplete the green
resources.
“They are spending tonnes of money on questionable projects within
the city in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, but the general
maintenance of the monuments and the surroundings has remained
miserably poor,” conservationist Ravi Singh told IANS.
“Encroachments have not been removed and conservation work has not
been taken up to facelift the historical monuments that dot the
city. The focus is too Taj-centric.”
(Brij Khandelwal can be
contacted at brij.k@ians.in)
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