There was an urgent need to protect the Taj Mahal and authorities should take a larger perspective on issues such as pollution and green cover to prepare a vision document on protecting the monument, India's top court said on Tuesday (28).
The Supreme Court also said that vehicular traffic and pollution from the industries operating in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), which is spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, should be looked into while preparing the vision document.
"If the Taj Mahal goes once, you will not get a second chance," a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta told the project coordinator involved in the process of preparing the vision document.
The School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi is involved in preparing the vision document.
Suggestions from expert bodies such as the Aga Khan Foundation, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) have also been sought.
Several times over the past few decades, the palace’s white marble has been coated in a mud pack in an attempt to clean it. However, there has not been much improvement.
Manoj Bhatnagar of the Archaeological Survey of India’s chemical department told the BBC in 2016 that the mud pack is based on a traditional recipe used by Indian women in their beauty regime.
“A layer of fullers earth – a type of lime-rich clay – mixed with water is applied over the walls and left on for 24 hours or more to dry,” he said. “Once it dries, the mud is removed and the surface is washed with distilled water to remove impurities.”
The Taj Mahal’s most recent mud pack treatment started in January 2018.
Pollution is not the only cause for the 17th-century monument’s destruction. The Taj Mahal sits on the banks of the heavily contaminated Yamuna, which is a breeding ground for insects that leave green marks on its marble domes.
“Fifty-two drains are pouring waste directly into the river and just behind the monument, Yamuna has become so stagnant that fish that earlier kept insect populations in check are dying. This allows pests to proliferate in the river,” environmental activist DK Joshi was quoted as saying by BBC.
Although these green patches are washable, frequent scrubbing removes the sheen off the marble.
Kulsuma Aktergetty images