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UP govt to move SC over Taj Mahal

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to promptly move the Supreme Court against the public interest litigation, responding to which the apex court on Friday granted a stay on the proposed re-opening of the Taj Mahal for night viewing from December 22 onwards.

Disclosing this, the UP Tourism Minister Ashok Yadav told rediff.com, "we are going to explain to the apex court that since the government was fully geared to ensure fool-proof security of the monument, its stricture was unfair." He was hopeful of putting across the state's point of view before the court to get the stay order vacated.

The Supreme Court's interim stay came following the PIL filed by the well known environmentalist and lawyer M C Mehta, who has taken up the cause of the 17th century wonder at various fora. It was Mehta's earlier PIL that led to the banning of all types of petrol or diesel driven automobiles within a three-kilometres radius of the Taj.

However, the order of the apex court could not be strictly enforced due to the "corrupt and obliging officials" entrusted with the task. Visiting the monument recently, this reporter could see blatant violation of the regulation. Anyone greasing the palms of the policemen on duty could take his vehicle right to the outer gates of the Taj.

The contractor running the parking lot at the last point beyond which vehicles are not permitted was also seen allowing vehicles to pass after a bribe was paid. Asked to explain, the contractor Ram Lakhan Yadav shot back, "I have taken the contract for Rs 1.2 million and I have the right to allow parking wherever I wish to." The other violators of the Supreme Court ban are the policemen and of course VIPs including ministers, public representatives and bureaucrats, whose vehicles openly go right up to the entry gate.

Tourists are expected to use the special battery-operated buses being used by another government agency -- the Agra Development Authority, which charges Rs 4 per individual for the trip. But invariably tickets are not issued by the bus conductors, who in obvious connivance with the ADA officials, pocket the thousands of rupees that is collected. The ADA's neglect and apathy towards the monument is conspicuous in the unkempt lawns and poorly maintained gardens in or around the Taj.

Perhaps it was because of these conditions that Mehta moved the apex court to restrain the official machinery from throwing open the monument for night viewing. "A lax and corrupt administration could really cause disaster to the world heritage monument," quipped a supporter of the ban here.

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