Indian Muslim devotees offer prayers at The Taj Mahal in Agra.

Despite air pollution monitoring and curbs on nearby industrial activity, India's famed monument is turning yellow. Air pollution and, some say, natural aging have given the Taj a slightly yellow tinge, and last week a report released by the Indian Parliament prescribed a $230,000 therapeutic mudpack as the best way to preserve the architectural masterpiece, which towers over the dusty city of Agra like a fairytale marble teardrop.

The report said that the yellowing has continued despite government efforts to curb traffic and shut down factories nearby. Pollution, often caused by dust and the burning of fossil fuels, remains at consistently high levels in the area, according to data from the Air Pollution Monitoring Laboratory, which tracks air quality around the famous mausoleum.

Efforts to preserve the Taj nearly two decades ago launched an environmental campaign that has since grown into the so-called Green India movement. Environmentalists in this rapidly industrializing country have tried to address problems, including global warming, auto pollution, and widespread dumping of industrial waste in waterways.

More than a decade ago, India's Supreme Court ordered thousands of factories and small, smokegenerating iron foundries and kilns near the Taj to be shut down or moved. Today in Agra, cars and buses are banned near the cultural landmark.

On summer holidays, waves of Indian families in colorful saris and tunics mix into swelling crowds of photo-snapping, sneaker-clad Westerners, bottled water and camcorders in hand. They crowd into horse-drawn carriages and battery-powered buses to reach the monument, which is visited by about 3 million people a year -- a rate of more than 8,000 a day.

"So many good things were done by the government, but there's still so much more to do," said Mahesh Mehta , an environmental lawyer in New Delhi who for decades has tried to persuade the courts to protect the mausoleum. "Taj Mahal doesn't just belong to India alone. It's a global treasure. The Indian government is accountable to the world."

Activists say that illegal factories are still springing up near the Taj and that a booming population and seemingly endless construction have contributed to the plumes of black smoke and water shortages that plague the city.

The Taj Mahal was built by more than 20,000 laborers, artisans, and stonemasons more than 350 years ago by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan as a memorial of love to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal . Up close, the Taj looks slightly ivory in spots, but overall it retains its original milky-white complexion.

The treatment recommended in the report would entail pouring lime-splashed clay onto the building's fine Arabic etchings, slender minarets and intricate flowered inlay to draw out impurities in a multistep treatment spanning several months.

Trained restoration artists would methodically apply the clay to every inch of the Taj, with the monument kept open during the treatment, said D.K. Burman, joint director of tourism for Agra. A trial facial completed two years ago produced noticeable whitening. The mudpack should be repeated every two to three years to keep the marble's surface clean, Burman said.

"Whenever anyone talks of India, they say, 'Have you seen the most beautiful Taj?' " Burman said. "We are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve her."

In the coming weeks, the Archaeological Survey of India, under the Ministry of Culture, will decide whether it wants to take up the recommendation.

In Agra, 10 percent of the city's desperately poor 1.3 million residents make a living in the hotel industry or as piecemeal hawkers, aggressively chasing down tourists as they walk up to the Taj, begging for work as a tour guide or peddling snow globes, Taj alarm clocks and plastic mini-Tajs.

Small-business owners say that cars and motorized rickshaws are more responsible for the pollution than factories. Others say the Taj gets too much attention in a city with 250 other decrepit and often-ignored historic sites, along with sewage-filled streets and crumbling markets that need government refurbishing.

The Taj itself looks out over the once-beautiful Yamuna River , now the most polluted waterway in India, so dirty that residents must buy their own drinking water.

"Taj is one of the seven wonders of the world, so it's our heritage and is definitely important," said Anil Goyal , president of the National Chamber of Industries and Commerce in Agra. "Yet the government should also pay some importance to the p eople's livelihood, too."

The Taj Mahal has been diagnosed with a life threatening disease; Marble Cancer. Experts predicted that if the air in Agra was not monitored and cleaned, the exterior of the mausoleum would, eventually turn black. Up until 1993, 1700 factories in and around Agra were belching out noxious fumes and gases, most of them illegally, and the Supreme Court ordered the closure of 212 industrial plants in Agra. The situation was critical, when the smog was most intense, it was impossible to see the Red Fort, just 1 mile [1.6 kilometers] away across the Yamuna River. In 1998 UNESCO, in conjunction with the French company Rhone-Poulenc and the Archaeological Survey of India spearheaded a clean up programmed. The restoration objectives included the cleaning of the marble, research into the cleaning products and waterproofing. To prevent rain damage and algae growth special silicone-based agents have been applied to the faade. A green buffer zone was also established around the Taj Mahal and prohibits the construction of industrial plants and supports the planting of trees and shrubs. Oil refineries have been ordered to reduce their pollutant levels and coal based brick kilns have been banned or ordered to switch to gas. Traffic is also a significant problem in Agra, with high levels of carbon monoxide in the air. The city and the surrounding area have 5.5 million people living there and attract 7 million tourists annually. Battery charged buses now function to take people to and from the Taj Mahal. Although the positive effects of these prohibitions is questionable.

THE National Culture Fund (NCF), the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian Hotel Company (the Taj group of hotels -- a Tata enterprise) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the preservation, restoration and conservation of th e Taj Mahal and its environs.

The work, which is to be undertaken in two phases, is to see the Tatas pump in around Rs 1.8 crore for the work being undertaken in the first phase. The offer of the Taj group of hotels is to take up specific projects for preservations, conservation and provision of better facilities at the Taj Mahal.

The Group has already been internationally acknowledged for restoring, conservation and managing heritage properties like the Rambagh Palace in Udaipur, the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad and the Sawai Madhopur Lodge in Madhopur.

Besides, it will also be responsible for commissioning a professional agency to prepare a feasibility report on the conservation, beautification, restoration and upgradation of the monument and the surrounding areas.

Addressing the media after the signing ceremony, the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Mr Ananth Kumar, said that better signages, landscaping and building public utilities of international standards would be taken up.

During the second phase, an international panel of experts would also be on hand to advice on the model which should be adopted to restore the Taj Mahal to its old glory.

The terms of the MoU state that among the work which will be undertaken by the hotel Group include river water treatment, development of garden and ambience, development of Mughal gardens, restoration of missing inlay pieces in the Taj Mahal and the main entrance of the monument, provision of pre-recorded tour programme with headsets in different languages for the international traveller, besides setting up state of the art communication facilities in the vicinity of the Taj.

Later answering questions, Mr Ananth Kumar said that the NCF had in the last one year alone contributed more than Rs 30 crore towards the preservation of various monuments in different parts of the country.

Identification

1. The Issue: Environmental pollution spurred by industry and automobiles has long been observed to be progressively destroying the Taj Mahal's white marble surface. Petitions of Indian environmentalists have led to a series of court challenges in the Indian Supreme Court and lower courts. The conflict has often pitted business and labor interests against environmentalists and preservationists as well as India's need to protect its cultural heritage versus its need to provide jobs for its citizens.

2. Description: Mark Twain once remarked the world is divided between two types of people: those who have seen the Taj Mahal and those who have not. The Taj is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world and the image most associated with India. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan

erected the Taj Mahal at Agra as a mausoleum in memory of his beloved wife, Arjumarid Bano Begum; (popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal "favored of the court"), who died in A.D. 1630. Begun in 1632 AD, it took 20,000 men working every day over 22 years to complete. It is heralded by many as the greatest work of Mughal architecture.

India has experienced exponential industrial growth in recent years. Increasingly, people have left villages for urban centers in order to try and find work. The result of this industrialization has often been overcrowded cities and dense pollution. Agra is no exception. It has been identified as a "pollution intensive zone" by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is estimated that the area around the Taj contains five times the amount of suspended particles (such as sulfur dioxide) that the Taj Mahal could handle without sustaining everlasting damage. India has been involved in a "greening" campaign particularly in regards to its national monuments.

More recently, India has begun to try and attract more tourists: this has created a dilemma how to market its best Tourist attraction without causing significant damage to it in the process.

Taj Mahal, apart from being one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is undoubtedly the worlds most incredible symbol of love. Its screams beauty and is breathtaking. However, pollution is taking its breath away slowly. Many steps have been taken in the past to protect it. However, the steps taken have failed to keep the beauty of the Taj Mahal intact.

Efforts taken to preserve the Taj

The efforts to protect the monument were started in early 1990s. In 1999, the Supreme Court ordered to close 53 iron factories and 107 other plants that harm the Taj.

In 2001, the National Culture Fund (NCF), the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian Hotel Company (the Taj group of hotels) signed a memorandum to protect, restore and conserve Taj Mahal and its surroundings . In 2007, an environmental campaign was launched to preserve the Taj Mahal and the campaign has been changed into the Green Indian movement. More than a decade ago, Indias Supreme Court

ordered to close down the factories that were harming the monument. Cars and buses ware banned to cross the cultural landmark.

In the past, many plants were planted in the Taj nature walk in order to preserve the beauty, but not even a single of it has survived.

In 2009, natural gas pipelines have been placed to deliver clean fuel to industries in Agra and Firozabad. The three-wheelers previously running on diesel have been replaced by CNG-power and Mathura refinery has been making heavy investments to reduce pollution.

In February this year, the government approved a plan to plant one million Tulsi plants near Taj. Tulsi, though a medicinal herb, is considered to purify the environment owing to its ability to release high amount of oxygen.

The application of Multani Mitti, also known as Fullers Earth, has disfigured the Taj, instead of preserving its beauty. The patches have disfigured the building.

Threat to Taj Mahal Picture Gallery Amazing Taj Mahal

The beauty of Taj Mahal is vanishing from year to year due to environmental degradation. The major problems being faced are pollution, excessive tourism, toxins released from the industries and the threat from rising Yamuna.

The pollution from vehicles and industries is turning the Taj Mahal tourists visit in the cooler months of October, November and February. Each year the visitors throw trash in the surroundings and destroy the beauty of the Taj.

The toxins released from Mathura oil refinery, which is 25 miles from the Taj, is posing a huge threat to it. The refinery produces air pollution emissions, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. These

gases react with each other and add fuel to the fire.

Moreover, during heavy rains, the rising level of the river Yamuna poses a major threat to the monument.

What we can do?

When we accept any existing monument to be a part of the World Heritage, it automatically becomes a global responsibility to preserve it. Excessive tourism is one of the major factors proving the fact that we are awestruck by its incredible charm but are doing little to come forward and take concrete steps. It would be a folly to wait and watch what the government does in this regard. Where we are even deprived of our basic human right to clean air, we shouldnt be expecting much. Taj belongs to us all. Lets join hands and help preserve it. There is no sound technical way to restore the beauty. Moreover, there is shortage of work force too. These are small things. The world can join hands to take action now before it is too late. Cant we? Tags: Taj Mahal, Supreme Court, National Culture Fund, NCF, Archaeological Survey of India, ASI, Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Multani Mitti, Yamuna, October, November, February, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, Environment Disqus

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