Pollution Threatening The Taj Mahal

I decided to write on some hot topics on travel which will give a different taste to the visitors who are getting bored by my daily travel destination posts. In this post I tried to draw attention to the plights of one of the best world heritage structures.
Yup ! I am talking of the TAJ MAHAL, the symbol of love.

Although the Taj Mahal may appear to the untrained eye almost as perfect as the day it was completed, the marble is undeniably sullen and yellow in parts, and empty casings here and there betray lost precious stones. These are the early effects of the threat posed by pollution from traffic and industry, and the millions of tourists who visit the tomb year-round. While marble is all but impervious to the onslaught of wind and rain that erodes softer sandstone, it has no natural defence against the sulphur dioxide that lingers in a dusty haze and shrouds the monument; sometimes the smog is so dense that the tomb cannot be seen from the fort. Sulphur dioxide mixes with atmospheric moisture and settles as sulphuric acid on the surface of the tomb, making the smooth white marble yellow and flaky, and forming a subtle fungus that experts have named "marble cancer".

The main sources of pollution are the continuous flow of vehicles along the national highways that skirt the city, and the 1700 factories in and around Agra - chemical effluents belched out from their chimneys are well beyond safety limits laid down by environmental committees. Despite laws demanding the installation of pollution-control devices, the imposition of a ban on all petrol- and diesel-fuelled traffic within 500m of the Taj Mahal, and an exclusion zone marking 10,400 square kilometres around the complex that should be free of any new industrial plants, pollutants in the atmosphere have continued to rise (many blame the diesel generators of nearby hotels), and new factories have been set up illegally. In 1993, the Supreme Court finally took action and ordered nearly three hundred plants to shut down until emissions fell to legal limits. Cleaning work on the Taj Mahal rectifies the problem to some extent, but the chemicals used will themselves eventually affect the marble, while the doubtful methods of the Archeological Survey of India, such as scrubbing with toothbrushes, may prove disastrous in the long term. Attendants already shine their torches on repaired sections of marble to demonstrate how they've lost their translucency. Hopes for proper care of the Taj Mahal have been raised since the government turned its attention to the plight of India's greatest monument, while entry fees for foreign visitors have been increased, supposedly to regulate the flow of tourists and generate much needed income. However, the UP government have more than just the threat of pollution damage to worry about. In early 2005, they launched an investigation into claims that decreased water levels in the Yamuna have led to dangerous tilts in the Taj's minarets, and fears that unless something is done to restore the Yamuna to previous levels, the entire building could collapse.

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.

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.

Legal Standing
India is a signatory to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention adopted in 1972. The main goal of the World Heritage Convention is to identify and protect monuments of great cultural and natural heritage throughout the world. In signing the Convention, a country pledges to conserve the World Heritage sites located in its own territory and protect its national heritage. The application for a site to be accepted as the World must come from the country itself. The application process includes submission of a plan detailing how the site is managed and the measures assuring its continued protection. In some cases, UNESCO identifies conditions to a country before accepting a site as a world heritage monument.

For example, at the time Delphi was nominated by Greece, a plan was in the works to build an aluminum plant nearby. The Greek government was asked to find an alternative location for the plant, did so, and Delphi was accepted onto the World Heritage List. In other cases, such as the Giza Pyramids, UNESCO asks the country for remediation of potential threats. In 1995, the Pyramids were threatened by a highway project near Cairo which would have seriously damaged the monument. Negotiations with the Egyptian government resulted in a number of alternative solutions which replaced the disputed project. Ultimately, the treaty is not binding by the force of an ultra-national body but rather left to the discretion of the country.

The Agra area currently has three world heritage sites: the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. The Constitution of India gives the Supreme Court extensive powers. In the Constitution, the Courts were envisioned as a watchdog, independent of the executive. They were entrusted with the task of ensuring that all institutions function in accordance with the Constitution under the rule of law. The Supreme Court was assigned the power not only to set aside Executive acts of Government, but also to strike down laws made by Parliament and the State Legislatures. Throughout its history, the Court has further expanded its own powers by creative interpretations of the Constitution, in particular Article 21 which guarantees the right to life. This right to life has been interpreted by the Court to include the right to a healthy environment. Citing their status as world heritage monuments and the health of the citizens around the monuments, the Court mandated environmental measures in order to protect the Taj Mahal and other nearby world heritage monuments: Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. One of these measures include what has come to be known as the 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.

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. Additionally, conventional cars and automobiles are banned within a 500-meter radius of the monument. 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.

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.

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.

The Guardian reported ("Monumental Expense" August 18, 2001) that at one stage, "guides outside the Taj Mahal reported up to 100 foreign students a day turning back in disappointment when they discovered the cost". Many backpackers able to get by on the low cost on living in India had not budgeted for the increased cost of the Taj. Three tourists, from Sweden, France and South Korea, in January 2001 were arrested after climbing over the Taj Mahal's perimeter wall.

Relation of Trade Measure to Environmental Impact
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.

The Taj hotel group has converted a number of heritage buildings into resort hotels, including the Lake Palace in Udaipur. The move was controversial as no public hearing or input was solicited in the decision. Tata has agreed to pay for maintenance a commitment of somewhere between $383,000 and $750,000. It is estimated that the Taj Mahal currently takes in about $2 million at the gate each month. Tata also receives a tax exemption for its spending on preservation and scores a public relations coup for its brand: the Taj Mahal hotel chain.

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 project will also look at the development of recently discovered Mughal Garden. Mehtab Garden, the moonlit pleasure park, will be resurrected as will fountains which adorned the are in the seventeenth century.

The restaurants and shopping mall will form part of the $3.3 million second phase which will include ATMs, modern restrooms and waiting areas. 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.

The website http://www.taj-mahal.net allows visitors to to take a panoramic tour of the Taj Mahal complex. For an additional two dollar "donation" to the ASI one can gain access to mausoleum itself.

One of the environmental measures proposed for the protection of the Taj Mahal is the reinvention and reintroduction of the cycle rickshaw. The cycle rickshaw has been around since the 1940s and has served as a low cost/ low pollution form of transportation. However the cycle rickshaw has suffered from an image problem. Rickshaw walas often are subjected to harsh work conditions for minimal financial gain. ITDP estimates on average the rickshaw wala earns $1.30 per day, $0.30 of that goes to the owner of the cycle rickshaw. This puts the cycle rickshaw wala at the global poverty line established by the World Bank ($1 a day or less). The rickshaw has been decried by progressive politicians as exploitative to drivers and unsafe to the roads. The vehicles were also blamed for traffic congestion. The cycle rickshaw was banned in New Delhi more than ten years ago and faces the prospect of similar bans in other Indian cities. Many Indians and tourists alike were uncomfortable with the idea of riding in a vehicle of questionable safety and comfort and one in which the driver has to physically struggle to walk the bicycle up hills or embankments, as is the case in Agra, at the Taj Mahal.

In 1994, the Supreme Court of India ordered that motorized vehicles be restricted in the 4 square kilometers immediately surrounding the Taj. Additionally the neighborhood around the Taj is composed of many narrow alleys and streets which make large scale automobile and bus traffic impassable. This opened up an opportunity for alternate forms of transportation which included electronic powered transportation, animal transportation; some tourists would hire out camel walas to make the short trek form the hotels to the Taj Mahal, and the cycle rickshaw.

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a New York based organization that stresses non-motorized environmentally sound transportation, initiated what has come to be known as The Taj Mahal Cycle Taxi Improvement Project at the request of the Municipality of Agra, the Indian Government, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Energy, Environment, and Enterprise Program, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The project sought to redesign the rickshaw to create a safer, more comfortable ride which is easier on the driver as well.

The project sought not to import the import the bikes into Agra but rather to enable the local community to manufacture and produce the bikes with technical assistance. This policy lead to higher end production jobs in Agra. The new cycle rickshaw is the multi-speed gear system which reduces strain on the rickshaw-wallah. The weight of the vehicle is lighter evenly distribution and makes it easier to pedal and steer and the long chassis offers stability and prevents toppling. For the passenger, there are comfortable seats and backrests which absorb shocks and offer more comfortable rides. In addition, the permanent hood offers protection against sun and rain, and here is plenty of luggage space under the seats.

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.

Industry Sector
In 1995, according to the World Tourism Organization WTO), India ranked 44th among the world's top 60 tourist destinations in terms of numbers of tourists and 52nd among the world's top 60 tourist destinations in terms of tourist spending.

Indian Government has recently liberalized its tourism market in an effort to unleash the potential currently latent in the industry. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) states India's travel and tourism industry was expected to be worth US$27.4 billion in GDP for the year 2001 and was set for real growth of 10 percent before September 11, 2001 when travel and tourism demand dropped dramatically across the world. The industry was expected to employ 25 million people in 2001 (six percent of India's total workforce).

Although the Taj and Agra fort are major tourist destinations, a survey by Lucknow University showed that thousand of visitors leave Agra without even a hotel stay. Agra is close enough to both Delhi and Jaipur to visit only a stopover. Thus a great deal of potential income is lost.

India saw tourism drop by almost a quarter in the wake of September 11th as did many other countries. Additionally, increasing tension in disputes with Pakistan led Indian aurthorities to consider a plan to cover the Taj Mahal with a gaint tarp to camoflauge it from Pakistani warplanes. The plan would no doubt have an adverse effect on tourism however it was not enacted. Indian Government has also taken significent measures to increase security as to deal with possible terrorist threats to the Taj Mahal.


It would seem that for the moment, the Fate of the Taj Mahal hangs in the balance.

If you are planning to visit Taj Mahal Agra Reserve you can refer the Agra Accomodation Guide