The Mughals built the Taj Mahal with just hammer and chisel but the Uttar Pradesh government has failed to build a proper road around the world-famous monument even with all the modern tools being at its disposal, the Supreme Court observed on Monday.
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Over the years its gleaming white marble has been gradually turning yellow.
The Taj Mahal in Agra was built in the seventeenth century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal after she died in childbirth, and is today visited by three million people every year. The festival attracted foreign tourists who were delighted to take a glimpse of the marble monument.
The bench also considered a letter written by Supreme Court judge Justice Kurien Joseph to Chief Justice of India pointing out that Taj was under threat from pollution due to smoke emanating from the crematorium.
In their order, two judges suggested that the state could move the wood-burning crematorium and also build an electric one at the current site. The government has closed scores of factories near the monument and has tried to provide uninterrupted power supply in Agra so that residents do not have to use diesel-operated generators.
Hindus, who make up the majority of India’s population, traditionally use wood in cremation pyres. Work has been planned to build a stronger, 500-metre road around the Taj Mahal site but the state government has been reproached for the ugliness of the construction so far. Expert balloonists from 15 nations together with Spain, France, Britain and the US are collaborating within the occasion which has been organised by the tourism division of Uttar Pradesh.
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“Your engineers should be ashamed of themselves”. It directed advocate general Vijay Bahadur Singh, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, to seek instructions on the issue and file appropriate response. “You messed it up”.
