(PTI)
The Supreme court today refused to vacate for now its status quo order on construction of a multi-level parking near the iconic Taj Mahal, saying there was no harm in tourists walking up to the monument. The apex court rapped the state government for not coming out with a comprehensive policy to protect and preserve the beauty of Taj Mahal, saying “we need sustainable development”. The court said it first needed to examine the comprehensive action plan to protect the historic structure. A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notice to the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) authority and sought to know if there was any comprehensive action plan to protect the Taj Mahal not only from environment point of view but also with regard to other aspects and asked it to produce a vision document. The bench also asked TTZ authority to explain as why it was not holding meeting every two months as was expected.
TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq kms spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said it had all the requisite permissions to construct a multi-level parking a kilometre away from the eastern gate of Taj Mahal and it would be difficult for the tourists if this was not allowed to be made. “Why don’t you construct the parking lot beyond 1.5 km? Tourists can walk up to the monuments,” the bench said. Mehta said if the parking area was not constructed, there would be traffic congestion which will increase the inconvenience for tourists, especially the foriegners.
