ASI rejects CISF proposal

Vijay Upadhyay 
 
Agra. It may come as a pleasant surprise for history-lovers who have been worried over the undue "protective" attitude adopted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) towards the Taj Mahal and other historical monuments of Agra.
 
Less than a year after theoretically agreeing to the prospects of cordoning off sections of the Taj, to prevent tourists from entering these areas, the ASI has surprisingly rejected the CISF proposal to close the entrance to the fake graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal inside the main dome of the monument, though the real graves shall remain out of bounds for common tourists. But realising the increased security threat to the monument in view of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the ASI has permitted the CISF to increase its personnel strength inside the monument by 96, making the total CISF personnel strength posted at the Taj cross the 200 mark. Also, the police and other security agencies' presence in the prescribed 500m "yellow-zone" could also be augmented soon. Already, there are over 250 police and Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel posted in this high security zone around the Taj.
 
According to ASI sources, the CISF had proposed a closure of the fake graves of the emperor and his wife in order to control the crowds that gather around the main dome of the monument, resulting in security threat to the Taj. In the proposal, the CISF had mentioned that in the past seven months, 18 tourists had fallen off the platform surrounding the main dome, out of whom, one woman had died. Shutting down the entrance to the fake graves could control the number of tourists climbing up to the main platform of the monument and thereby reduce the number of such accidents besides making the monument more secure.
 
But the ASI has turned down this proposal after the tourism organisations of the town opposed any attempts to close entry to the main dome of the Taj claiming that since the original graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were already closed for the past 12 years, shutting down the fake graves too, could result in a decline in the number of tourists coming to Agra.
 
Rajiv Tiwari, president Federation of Travel Associations said that the tourists were drawn by the hypnotic charm of the love-story of the Mughal emperor.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Woman torched to death by inlaws on International Women's Day in India

AGRA.               It could serve as a well-placed slap in the face of the the groups of so-called women's rights activists who all too recently celebrated International Women’s Day, fervently praising the contribution made by women to the society and vowing to prevent violence against the feminine gender comfortably ensconced in luxurious clubs and hotels.    While the world was busy celebrating women’s day, a young girl was murdered in cold-blood, torched to death by her in-laws in Kayamganj town of Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh, alongwith a 6-month fetus inside her, just three years after marriage.    Two weeks have passed since the grisly murder but the local police appears to be in no hurry to catch the absconding in-laws who doused the girl in kerosene and left her to burn and die on the street, making good their escape while the locals awaited for the police to arrive. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother Archana Sharma has suffered from a strok
Read more

My views on Libya, India and the permanent SC seat

Image
On Wednesday, the British government 'de-recognized' the Gaddafi government and decided that it was in the interest of democracy to recognize the Libyan rebels as the only legal representative of the Libyan people. Immediately after that, the British Police entered the Libyan embassy in London and forced the remaining Libyan diplomats out of UK. France has already been parachuting modern weaponry, arms and ammunition to the Libyan rebel strongholds and both France and the United States have recognized the rebels as the legal Libyan representative power. While I am not a fan of Gaddafi or his regime in any way or form but I am equally disappointed in NATO's tactics and the double standards being played by the western powers in the Arab world. Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein had been two sore patches in the otherwise near-sweeping 'western conquest' of the Arab world and its oil. Only now, when a group of disenchanted Libyans, trained and provided for by wes
Read more

Agra unit to turn waste to wood

Image
Vishal Sharma / Agra December 29, 2008, 0:00 IST Govardhan Udyog plans to use cowdung to produce particle board. Faced with the task of developing environment-friendly technology for industry due to guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, entrepreneurs in Agra are realising the cost-effective potential of such technologies and innovations. Govardhan Udyog is one such unit which plans to use a non-conventional raw material, cowdung, to produce particle board and pharmaceutical products. The unit was inaugurated this week on the Agra-Delhi national highway near the Mathura refinery, about 55 km from Agra. Company sources said the basic raw material used in the manufacture of particle board will be cow dung. This will perhaps make it the first particle board manufacturing facility using cowdung as the raw material. Govardhan Udyog Managing Director SK Mittal said particle boards were emerging as a viable alternative in designing office furniture and automation products in the country as c
Read more