The Supreme Court (SC), May 1, 2025 made it clear that all applications would have to be made to the court seeking permission to fell trees irrespective of the number of trees to be felled as far as areas located within an aerial distance of 5 kilometers from the Taj …
THE 12 million-plus population in the one-time Mughal capital of Agra is rather bemused by the brouhaha over the decay of the Taj Mahal. Naturally, while the city in which they live is choked with smog and its streets littered with filth, the preservation of natural heritage is the last …
For the ASI archaeologists, the philosophy of conservation is still bound between the covers of John Marshall's handbook on the conservation of historical monuments, written in 1903. Marshall believed that the preservation of a structure was more important than its restoration. The catchword here was authenticity. In 1873, the British …
NEVER in its 134 years of existence has the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) been bricked into such a deep controversy. Ever since Achala Moulik, a bureaucrat, took over as ASI's director-general in March 1993, a post that traditionally goes to archaeologists, resentment had been brewing over her style of …
EVER since the public interest petition filed by M C Mehta has made waves in the media, a lot of people have assumed that the Taj is under threat from industrial pollution and shifting the industries is the only solution. Scientifically, the damage from industrial pollution is yet to be …
The famous paintings of the Ajanta and Ellora caves are rapidly deteriorating, according to a study by Megha Deshmukh of the Government Institute of Science in Aurangabad. The caves were excavated in hill ranges composed of chaotic piles of irregular basalt flows. The lower parts of some of the flows …
In the March 8 hearing of the Taj pollution case, the Supreme Court agreed to consider a more humane way of tackling the problem instead of relocating the hundreds of polluting industries in Agra and shutting down the Mathura refinery. Although the Court has threatened to close down the refinery …
Fariburz Sahba, the Iranian architect who designed the, Baha'i Lotus Temple in New Delhi, is a sad man today. Dust and emissions from vehicles and industries around the temple are causing its marble exterior to peel off. Though the architect says the temple, made from the finest marble -from Athens …
COME OCTOBER and people from all over the world pour into Agra, drawn by the beauty and romance of the Taj Mahal. But this year, with the tourists will be a group of experts on pollution and pollution control systems, come to take a look at the industrial pollution that …
Nearly a decade after N C Mehta filed a public interest petition for the closure of industrial units in Agra, whose atmospheric pollutants he alleged were damaging the Taj Mahal, the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in his favour. This is Mehta's second victory in less than six months -- …
Even as the Uttar Pradesh government faces a barrage of criticism for its otherwise lacklustre performance, it has undertaken an impressive afforestation programme that state forest secretary Mohinder Singh says is aimed at reducing environmental pollution in urban settlements. During 1993-94, 400 million saplings will be planted in select towns …
A 61-YEAR-old Chinese architect, Cao Shizhong, who specialises in setting tilting structures straight, dreams of restoring the Leaning Tower of Pisa to its original tilt, a feat that would make him a millionaire. The Leaning Tower of Pisa could never attain its planned 13-storey eminence for when the tower had …
SHAH JAHAN'S dream in marble is at greater risk from pollution today than two decades ago, when protest over damage to the Taj Mahal was at its peak. But even after 20 years, experts are still at odds on how serious is the threat to what is arguably the world's …
I LIVE in Delhi, India's capital and one of its oldest cities. Seven times it has experienced a violent death and like the phoenix, seven times it has risen from its ashes. The city's historical monuments span its founding by the Pandavas who called it Indraprastha to its seventh incarnation, …
"WE CAN cut coke consumption in foundries by as much as a quarter by using a new technology, but nobody comes to us," says Rama Rao, Director of the Process and Product Development Centre (PPDC) in Agra. He adds, "It will also reduce pollution as the quantity of coke used …
To protect the treasured monument - Taj Mahal - from the possible effects of chemicals in air, the Government of India constituted a High Power Committee to oversee the implementation of the necessary air pollution control measures in Agra Mathura Region and an Expert Group to assist the Committee with …
The primary task of the Expert Group is to assist the High Power Committee who is to oversee the implementation of pollution control measures at Agra-Mathura Region, based on scientific and technical findings.
