REPORT ON TAJ

HÔTEL

Aman
Manas
Abhishek
Shilpa
Kailash
 THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE & TOWER
 Prestigious luxury hotel, Colaba, Mumbai.
 Situated next to the Gateway of India.
 Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces.
 Is an iconic 105-year old heritage building retains its
stature as the flagship property of the group and
contains 565 rooms.
 The hotel has hosted a long list of notable guests
including Mick Jagger, Jacques Chirac, The
Duke & Duchess of Kent, Joan Collins, The King & Queen
of Norway, Marianne Faithfull, The Duke of
Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Beatles, Bill
Clinton and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and also caters
to professional cricket teams on tour.
 From an historical and architectural point of view, The
Taj Mahal Palace and the Tower are two distinct
buildings, built at different times and in different
 HISTORY
 Commissioned by Jamsedji Tata and first opened its doors to
guests on December 16, 1903.
 Was build after Tata was refused entry to one of the city's
grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted
to 'whites only'.
 The cost of construction was £250000 (£127 million today).
 During World War I, the hotel was converted into a 600-bed
hospital.
 The dome of the hotel is made from the same steel as used
in the Eiffel Towers.
 The hotel was the first in India to install and operate a steam
elevator.
 There used to be a Green's Hotel at the Apollo Bunder, which
was purchased by the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was at the Green's
Hotel, that a small group of pro-Indian Goans (largely
employees of the Indian state and communists) assembled
and formed the Goan Liberation Council demanding that
Portugal cede Goa to India, in the 1950s. This was done at
the instigation of Jawaharlal Nehru, and funded by the
Kamani Group of Companies.

 In 1973, Green's hotel was demolished and the present Tower

wing was constructed in its place.
 THE SIEGE AT TAJ HERITAGE

 60 hours of siege at Taj left 195 people dead and

hundreds injured.
 At the Taj, the gunmen broke in room after room
and shot occupants at point-blank range. Some
were shot in the back. At the Oberoi Hotel, the
second luxury hotel to be attacked, one gunman
chased diners up a stairwell and at one point turned
around and shot dead an elderly man standing
behind him.
 Ittook Indian security forces nearly three days
to eliminate the last of the attackers, who were
holed up in the iconic Taj Mahal palace hotel.

 WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER
 2120-0100: At least seven gunmen enter the lobby of
the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where about 450 people
are staying, and begin firing. Large fire reported.

 THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER
 0100-0400: Indian army in running battles with
militants at the two hotels. Small groups of guests
manage to escape.
 0245: A group calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen" claims
responsibility for the attacks.
 1030: Army says it is doing room-by-room searches of Taj but
explosions still heard at both hotels.

 FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER
 0230: Gunfire and loud explosions still being heard from the Taj
and the Jewish centre, Nariman House.
 1300: Indian commandos report 30 bodies in one Taj hall.
 1830: Security operations still continue at the Taj although there
is much less gunfire

 SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER
 04:30: Renewed explosions and gunfire are heard from inside
the Taj.
 0730: Fire breaks out on the lower floors of the Taj. Shortly
afterwards Indian television reports that the siege is over.
 0850: Indian police declare the Taj Mahal siege over, with the
deaths of three gunmen.
 Commentators have described the assault as
"India's 9/11", in reference to the suicide plane
attacks on the US in 2001.
 The claim of responsibility was made by an
unknown Islamic militant group calling itself the
Deccan Mujahideen - a reference to a mainly
Muslim region of India.
 Indian media have named the surviving gunman as
Azam Amir Qasab, a Pakistani.
 They were not from India, and had trained in and
were carrying stuff - AK-56, AK-47 and 9mm
revolvers and hand grenades possibly of Chinese
make.
 They were told that their work was to "take
hostages for safe passage". He also told them their
aim was to "create an international incident, and
anything big in Mumbai would be noticed all over
 CONCLUSION
 The hotel, one of India's grandest, had fallen silent after three
nights of constant gunfire and grenade blasts from gunmen and
commandos.
 Parts of the majestic old wing of the hotel were gutted. Dark soot
enveloped the brown brick and stone walls. Even the windows in a
small section of a part of the second storey had been charred.
 Nobody knows quite how much of the hotel's elaborate décor -
alabaster ceilings, hand woven silk carpets, a rare art collection -
has survived the siege.
 "It will be a while until we come to terms with the damage inside,"
said a harried hotel employee, who refused to give his name.
 The siege of the Taj Mahal hotel may be over, but the body count
and the estimation of damage inside has just begun.
 It may be several months, even a year, before Mumbai's proudest
landmark on the sea comes alive again.
 O U
K Y
A N
TH