NEW DELHI:There are two groups of people in the world: “Those who have seen the Taj Mahal and those who have not.”
--- President Bill Clinton on March 22, 2000, in his speech to a joint session of Parliament in New Delhi.

The poet Rabindranath Tagore once evocatively described the beauty of the Taj Mahal as “a tear on the face of eternity.” But what brings tears to the eyes today is the slow and toxic death of one of the wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal, sparkling white when Shah Jahan built it three-and-a-half centuries ago, had taken on a distinct off-white hue by the end of the 20th century. A determined bid has since been on to restore the monument to its pristine beauty.

The Taj Mahal today continues to be threatened by corrosive effects of industrial pollution despite several court orders to close down harmful factories in Agra. The culprits include an oil refinery, iron foundries, glass factories and brick kilns, not to mention the continuous flow of traffic within the city and along the highways skirting Agra. Combined with oxygen and moisture, sulphur dioxide emissions from industries settles on the surface of the tomb and corrodes the marble, forming a fungus that experts refer to as “marble cancer.”

“Pollution has managed to do what 350 years of wars, invasions and natural disasters have failed to do. It has begun to mar the magnificent walls of the Taj Mahal,” said an anguished President Clinton during his visit to the 17th-century monument in 2000.

Time and again, experts have warned that environmental pollution is eating away at the monument and discolouring its once translucent white marble. But the prescription to control pollution by relocating a number of industries around the Taj Trapezium Zone ----- a 10,400 square kilometer area around the monument ---- has pitted conservationists and environmentalists against business interests and unions. Besides the Taj Mahal, the zone includes two other world heritage monuments, the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.

Blaming pollution and regulatory negligence for the Taj’s decay, M.C. Mehta, a prominent environmental lawyer, filed a case before the Supreme Court in 1984.

So what should take precedence ---- the monument or the thousands of workers employed by the factories in the area? The stakes are such that the case is being fought out in the country’s Supreme Court.

Blaming pollution and regulatory negligence for the Taj’s decay, M.C. Mehta, a prominent environmental lawyer, filed a case before the Supreme Court in 1984. He pointed out that the white marble had blackened in places, while inside, the monument was being eaten by fungus, especially in the inner chamber, where the original graves of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal lie. Mehta pleaded with the court to order the various industries to take anti-pollution measures or to close. He also stressed that pollution was affecting the health of workers and people living in Agra’s residential areas.

It was not until 1996 that the Supreme Court finally ruled that the industries in the area were actively contributing to air pollution and ordered major industrial units to install pollution control devices. “Not even a 1 percent chance can be taken when ---- human life apart ---- the preservation of a prestigious monument like the Taj is involved,” stated the court order.

Since then, the court has been passing several orders to protect the environment and the world famous Mughal monument. It has relocated polluting small-scale industrial units, ordered forestation of the tourist complex and passed several orders on civic amenities, like public transport and drainage.

The latest direction from the court came on Jan. 9, 2003, when it directed the civic agencies of Agra to remove all garbage and solid wastes from the streets of the city within seven days.

Industries aside, there are other factors, too, which explain the Taj’s lingering decline: Principally, that the monument has become a victim of its own global celebrity status with nearly two million tourists visiting the place every year. It is a must-see place for almost every foreign dignitaries, including kings, presidents and prime ministers.

Agra’s civic infrastructure, however, has not been designed or upgraded to cope with the pressure. So much so that its famous canals and water courses stink, and garbage abounds in city centers, resulting in a cascading ruinous impact on the monument.

Apart from from pollution, the Taj also faces threat from terrorists, and those who are bent upon eliminating every vestige of Muslim history in India. In October last year, activists of the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party forced their way into the Taj Mahal and vandalized its front lawns and the pool.

However, all is not lost. In line with the court’s activism, the corporate world has pitched in with funds and resources to save the monument from further decay. The Tata group in 2002 announced that it was ready to help preserve the Taj Mahal. The company promised to bring in international experts from the Getty Foundation, the Smithsonian and Unesco, among others, to help resorted the damaged engravings and stones and revamp the lighting system.

But till the time the effort bears fruition, the symbol of an emperor’s love wrought in living stone will breathe through the choking fumes.