2. Some facts about its
construction
It took almost twenty-five years to build
construction began in 1631 and ended in 1654.
Behind it was the labor of 22,000 people, including
with some best-known architects, masons, artisans, in-
layers and more.
To create the Taj Mahal some of the best material was
sourced, these came from far and wide
3. The reason behind its
construction
One of the most famous symbol of love.
Shah Jahan, the fourth Mughal emperor of India,
commissioned the Taj Mahal, as a mausoleum for his
favorite wife Mumtaj Mahal or, Arjumand Bano
Begum.
Legend says that Shah Jahan was greatly affected by
the death of his wife
A popular story speaks about how his hair turned a
sliver white overnight when his favorite queen died.
4. . At one time, there were 28 types of precious and
semi precious stones, but over the years, much of it
has been plundered.
Of course, all this came at a cost, and that was a
whopping 32 million Rupees, which is equivalent to
millions of US dollars today
The land chosen was around the walled city of Agra,
and belonged to Maharajah Jai Singh, near the river of
Yamuna.
5. The designer of the building is said to be the famous
Persian architect, Ustad Muhammad Effendi.
The Taj Mahal faces the river, and set within a three-
sided red sandstone wall.
There are two major sandstone buildings; these are
the mosque and its answer or “jawab” at the other end.
The mosque has a niche that faces Mecca, while its
mirror image has none.
6. Based on both islamic and hindu architecture
Topping the structure is the magnificent marble dome;
called the onion dome.
A lotus decorates the dome, and standing on it is the
beautiful and complex gold finial.
The Taj Mahal has been decorated with calligraphy,
carvings, vegetable motifs and inlays.
7. Problem
Due to acid rain, the white marble of the famous
monument began to turn yellow.It was observed in 1998 .
8.
9. How does acid rain affect Taj Mahal
When sulphur pollutants fall on to buildings made from
limestone and sandstone they react with minerals in
the stone to form a powdery substance that can be
washed away by rain. Famous buildings like the Statue
of Liberty in New York, the Taj Mahal in India and St.
Paul's Cathedral in London have all been damaged by
this sort of air pollution.
Building materials crumble away, metals are corroded,
the colour of paint is spoiled, leather is weakened and
crusts form on the surface of glass.
If people start reducing emissions we could save
all these buildings
10. Reasons for the
damage
There are several reasons for
the problem.
The city of Agra has grown in
size, industry and population.
Fumes from greater traffic have
made the Taj Mahal dirty again
There are " thousands
of vehicles plying
the roads and emitting
pollutants at an alarming level.
The city roads are so congested
that for a 15 minutes drive, one
has to spend an hour thus
consuming more fuels and
emitting more pollutants."
11.
12. With a greater population, there is more demand for
water which has meant that the water table is
dropping in the river which runs beside the
monument. However, the foundations of the building
are made of wood which must be kept moist to avoid
subsidence
In addition the water is heavily polluted because of the
discharges from factories and from human waste. This
clogs up drains around the building
Illegal building and lack of development regulation
have taken their toll
13. Steps taken in this direction
Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), a 10,400 sq. km area
around the monument were industrial business is
limited. The first court challenge was made in 1984
before the Supreme Court of India. In 1996 that the
Supreme Court ruled that the industries in the area
were actively contributing to air pollution and ordered
major industrial units to install pollution control
devices. The court also ordered 292 coal-based
industries to switch to natural gas or else to relocate
outside the protected zone by April 30, 1997.
14. Steps taken in this direction
In 1998, . India's Supreme Court ordered that more
than £90 million be spent on restoring the country's
most famous monument.
. Conservationists have taken a number of steps to
curb pollution in Agra which is a growing
manufacturing centre.
Cars have been banned from within 500 metres of the
monument.
15. An LED display gives a running tally on air pollution.
Diesel-run rickshaws have been replaced by cleaner
vehicles,
A road by-pass has been created and
There has been heavy investment in a refinery to
reduce emissions.
But despite these actions, a new report has found that
pollution levels have increased dramatically; so much
so that emissions of nitrogen oxide have reached
higher levels than those of twelve years ago.
16. 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.
17. Economic Data
According to the Press Information Bureau of the
Government of India, 2,350,0000 visited the country in the
year 2000 accounting for 12753.56 crores rupees (1 crore = 10
million) contribution to the foreign exchange reserves on
the country. It is estimated that the Taj Mahal itself takes in
1,400,000 tourists a year. Tourism is the third largest
contributor to foreign exchange following Information
Technology and Textile. Still despite its favorable exchange
rate and historic monuments, India is actually a net
exporter of tourism and many of the tourists are either
expatriate Indians returning home to see family or
backpackers on limited budgets.
18. Factories that opted for relocation were obliged to re-
employ workers under similar conditions and to
provide a one-year bonus. The court also order that if a
worker's plant were to close down, they would be
entitled to six years' worth of wages in compensation.
The cost of bringing the industries up to standard for
the business owners were prohibitive. Hundreds of
coal-burning factories have closed or converted to
cleaner fuels, however many industries still skirt the
Court's order. Thus there have been subsequent court
challenges in order to bring about compliance with the
court's previous mandates.
19. A further complication is that the state of Uttar Pradesh,
where Agra and the Taj are located, have near daily
electricity blackouts. This has had a negative effect on
the functioning of the sensitive pollution monitoring
system of the Taj. In April 2002, the Supreme Court
ordered the Agra Heritage Fund to set up a solar power
plant to meet the energy needs of the Taj Mahal and
the surrounding area.
20. Direct v. Indirect Impacts:
The price for Admission to the Taj Mahal is based on a two
tier system: there is one set price for Indians and another
set price for Non-Indians. The Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) has introduced measures it claims are aimed at
protecting the monument from over exposure to tourists as
well as raise revenues for the State. In 2000, ASI raised
prices for foreigners from 15 rupees to 960 rupees.
(Exchange is approximately $1 US to 48 rupees). Prices for
Indians remained a modest 4 rupees. ASI claims the
measures are aimed at controlling the number of tourists
and thus environmental harm caused to the monument by
tourists. The extra money will go towards maintaining the
Taj as well as the other monuments under ASI's protection.
The admittance fee is charged before one enters the Taj
Mahal complex.
21. If in the future, tourism was covered under as a
services agreement under WTO rules, it is possible
that other countries could charge that India's two
tiered pricing system is a barrier to trade. The matter
could come up in a dispute between two other
countries and none the less effect India. However
India would be able to argue that it is implementing
measures for environmental protection.
22. In June 2001, the government of India announced that
it had reached a deal with the Tata group, who own the
India Hotel Co. better known as the Taj hotel group.
Under the deal, Tata would take over the management
of the actual Taj Mahal and develop a number of state-
of-the-art tourist facilities in the area. The plan met
with significant disapproval from conservationists
upset at the commercialization of the monument, the
idea of surrounding the monument with computerized
ticketing, cyber cafes and shopping malls.
23. The first stage of Tata's commitment has been
focussed on urgent restoration including conservation
of the damaged stones and restructuring the existing
museum
The restaurants and shopping mall will form part of
the $3.3 million second phase which will include
ATMs, modern restrooms and waiting areas
24. Conservationists fear that boosting tourism would
further contribute to the deterioration of the Taj. Some
claim that massive crowds pose as much a danger to
the monument as industrial pollution. Hands leave
acid residues that corrode the marble and occasionally
vandals try to chip off semiprecious stones or carve
their initials on the walls.
25. Now the District Forest Department of Agra has come up
with a unique solution – Tulsi (Holy Basil). The forest
department believes that planting Tulsi around Taj Mahal
and Agra might help in saving the monument from
deteriorating.
The department is hoping to exploit the antipollutant,
antioxidation and air-purifying properties of Tulsi plant.
26. The department launched the Tulsi plantation drive from
January 2009. The public-private joint venture is expected
to provide an eco-protection cover to sensitive Taj
trapezium zone surrounding the 17th century monument
as well as the other two world heritage monuments like the
Agra Fort and Aitma-ud-Daula tomb. Tulsi was (Occinum
sanctum) chosen for its anti-pollutant, anti-oxidation and
air-purifying properties, making it an ideal ornamental
shrub in the vicinity of the Taj.
The job is to sensitize the masses about pollution, and
ensure maximum participation and follow up, he said.
Meanwhile, forest department will undertake greening the
Taj Forest Block Area (TFBA). Initially, the task involved
planting 10,000 saplings alongside the 650 broad leaved
environment friendly saplings (peepal, neem, pakar, goolar,
kadamb and bargad) .
27. CONCLUSION
As we saw ,that the government, the forest
department, the tourist department and other
conservationist are all trying from their side to restore
the glory of the TAJ (every heart’s call) but then they
can only make the rules !
it’s the common man, the billion Indian
population which has to implement these in the life of
India so as to save monument’s like Taj from the bad
hands of environment degradation.
