On Thursday, the apex court expressed its discontent with the Uttar Pradesh government filing first draft vision document on restoration and protection of the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
A bench constituting Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta slammed the UP government and asked what is the court supposed to do with the document. The court said, “Why have you given a draft plan? Are we supposed to vet it for you? Is it our job to vet it.”
The bench also said it was “surprising” that Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), responsible for the protection of the Taj Mahal was not approached while framing the first vision document.
The Uttar Pradesh government filed a draft earlier in the week on Tuesday after the Supreme Court had lashed out at the state government for not taking effective measures to protect the 17th-century white marble monument.
The court asked Attorney General KK Venugopal whether the draft report was sent by the authorities to UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris. The bench commented, “What will happen if UNESCO says that we will withdraw the World Heritage tag of the Taj Mahal.”
The bench asked Venugopal about the department in the Centre and state government responsible for managing and maintaining the TTZ–Taj Trapezium Zone.
TTZ is an area of almost 10,400 sq km spread covering the districts of Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
The apex court ordered the UP government to submit the first draft vision document to conservation experts, including INTACH–Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, for their input.
In the document filed on Tuesday by the state government, it mentioned several measures to manage traffic around the tourist hubs in order to encourage pedestrians. It also mentioned to declare the Taj premises as a no-plastic zone and banning plastic water bottles inside the precinct.