A surfeit of love is endangering Taj Mahal

AGRA: Mughal emperor Shah Jahan wanted it to be a place of peace and tranquillity. But the 17th century Taj Mahal today suffers a daily invasion of nearly 12,000 visitors.

An ever-increasing human load on the fragile white marble wonder on the banks of the Yamuna is causing concern among conservationists who feel the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) must come up with a plan to regulate the tourist inflow.

More than 2.5 million tourists visited it last year. And the numbers are expected to shoot up, with the monument to love now being included in the new list of the world's seven wonders.

"With so many people crowding up the monument, it is natural that the overall load will increase. Then there is an additional problem of people touching and feeling the marble structure," warns R. Nath, a Mughal historian and author of scores of books on the Taj Mahal's architecture.

"My concern has increased after reports that no one has been inside the basement to see the state of the foundation for the last so many years. With the Yamuna receding several hundred feet away and with hardly any water left in the river, we are inviting trouble."

Back in 1993, a high-powered committee appointed by the Supreme Court had recommended restrictions on the entry of visitors. For the first time in history, the Taj Mahal got a weekly holiday and visiting hours were limited, including a ban on nocturnal visits.

The Taj needs to breathe and spend a quiet day, the experts had opined. But, owing to popular demand, night viewing of the Taj is now allowed four days a month.

From a few hundred at the time of India's independence, the daily influx of visitors from all corners has now crossed 10,000. On some days it goes beyond 30,000.

Historians and conservationists feel the structure is being endangered by the surfeit of love and interest showered by its admirers.

"Until a few years ago hardly 20-odd faithful would congregate for Shah Jahan's annual Urs at the Taj. But there was no end to the three-day long celebrations this month. A record crowd entered for free. And a record 150 metre-long seven-coloured chadar was offered with much hype and fanfare," says a Mughal historian.

"After last year's ugly incidents, the ASI and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were a little more cautious this time, but it is a fact that the arrangements did break down temporarily."

But what is the safe limit? How many people should be allowed to see the Taj daily?

These are questions begging answers. Thus while the tourism industry - both government and private - wants more and more tourists to visit the Taj Mahal, conservationists see alarming signals.

Surendra Sharma of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society wants a graded system of entry tickets with those paying the highest amount being allowed to enter the mausoleum.

"Those who pay less should not be allowed beyond the central tank. And for the masses, let there be free entry till the main gate or the forecourt from where they can have a distant glimpse of the Taj Mahal," he suggests.

Historian Nath and others also feel some system has to be evolved to regulate the flow, "may be a waiting list on the basis of first-come-first-served principle could be the answer".

This would indirectly help the Agra hotels because tourists would then have to stay longer in Agra, waiting for their turn to see the Taj.

So while the monument's battle with industrial pollution may be over thanks to a series of drastic measures by the Supreme Court, the human load is a becoming a threat to the Taj complex along with the onslaught of nature in the form of dust from the neighbouring Rajasthan desert and the dry Yamuna river bed.