Many precious stones have gone missing from the country’s most-loved monument. And there is no clue as to their whereabouts, reveals an investigative report by Tehelka SIT.
“You can shut down the Taj. You can demolish it, if you like. You can also do away with it”. That stinging comment from the Supreme Court on July 11, 2018 had ignited a debate of unusual interest over preserving India’s most-loved and most-visited monument. It was another judge of the Supreme Court who raised yet another red flag. In September 2015, when justice Kurian Joseph visited the Taj Mahal with his family, something caught his eyes: fumes of acrid black smoke coming towards the monument. It emerged from a crematorium, Mokshadham, nestled between the Taj and the Agra Fort. In a letter to the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Joseph sought the intervention of the apex court. Should the crematorium be shifted or should chimneys with wet scrubbers be installed to ensure zero carbon emission? But efforts to shift the cremation site have not worked. [They hadn’t worked even when the Dr. S.Varadarajan committee on atmospheric environmental quality and preservation of the Taj Mahal suggested its removal in 1994]. This is one of the four official burning ghats in Agra. But, it is the most used, with up to 100 bodies burnt every day, each requiring about 300 kg of woods, informs a source.
Lawyer M.C. Mehta’s public interest litigation in the 1980s had resulted in the stringent orders against the Mathura oil refineries for significantly reducing ambient air quality around the Taj. Since then, the Supreme Court has directed action to clean the Taj, declaring 10,400 square kilometers of area the Taj Trapezium Zone [TTZ], closing down or relocating polluting units. Mehta has alleged that the upkeep of Taj is in a shambles. The colour of the marbles has toned down, cracks are appearing, minarets are showing signs of tilting, material are falling off, chandeliers are crashing, CCTVs don’t work, drains around the area are clogged, illegal encroachments, industries and activities are mushrooming in the vicinity, while a dying Yamuna is putting the foundation of the Taj at risk and also promoting invading insects. Pollution is still the biggest problem.
A lot has been written in media on these challenges faced by Taj Mahal. But no media attention has been given to the missing precious and semi-precious stones from the Taj Mahal. Tehelka carried out an investigation to know where the precious and semiprecious stones of the Taj Mahal are going? The investigation is based on several RTIs, which focussed on the missing stones of the Taj Mahal. On viewing the Taj Mahal closely, one finds many marble green leaves missing. In parts, whole segment of semi-precious stones are missing. An official of the Archaeological Survey of India [ASI], responsible for the maintenance of the Taj, on the condition of not naming him said, “Many tourists come and use their keys to take inlay pieces out”. But when asked from where the tourists get the keys, when all pointed elements carried by the tourists are taken away from them at the Taj entry by the security staff, the official failed to comment.G. Kishan ReddyG. Kishan Reddy
