Ah Taj! Are you ready for this...

NEW DELHI: Imagine a shopping mall asthe backdrop of the Taj Mahal instead of the picturesque Yamuna. Isthis an architectural nightmare? No, this could soon be the ugly reality. The UPgovernment has started the construction of the Heritage Corridor on the banks ofthe Yamuna, behind the monument.The UP government has decided tofill up the river bed behind the Taj in order to build a shopping complex, thework for which has already begun. The Central and the state government havesanctioned Rs 175 crore for the construction of the Taj Heritage Corridor, evenas environmental conservationists are decrying the ''scandalous'' nature of theproject.The state government''s grandiose project to link Agra''simportant monuments — Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Ram Bagh, Etmatuddula andChinni-Ka-Roza — is supposed to allow tourists to visit these monumentswithout entering Agra. The mall is a part of that project.TheCentral Pollution Control Board has sent an angry memo to the Ministry ofEnvironment warning them of serious consequences if attempts are made tointerfere with the flow of the Yamuna. "The filling up of the river bed willaffect the natural flow of the river as well as the natural flood plain," warnsB Sengupta, member secretary, CPCB, in a letter dated April 2.Theconstruction work began last November under the aegis of the National ProjectConstruction Corporation (NPCC) without any environmental assessment of itsimpact on the Taj. Says M C Mehta, activist lawyer: "This is a huge scam. Afterall, what does a mall consist of other than restaurants, discos, cabarets? Areour historic monuments going to be put to such use?" he asks.NaliniThakur, HoD, Conservation, School of Planning and Architecture, concurs: "TheTaj is a world heritage site and is governed by the UNESCO convention whichclearly spells out the need for a proper management plan prepared byspecialists. How can they start work without understanding the basics of riverhydrology? The Archaeological Survey of India should have ensured that alldepartments accepted this plan before it was implemented."Defendingthe UP government''s decision, RK Sharma, principal secretary, environment said,"The Supreme Court had directed us to remove all the shops from the front of theTaj. We were only trying to relocate them." Sengupta''s letter has alsopinpointed that in case the government did decide to go ahead with their plan tobuild the Corridor, they should have held a nation-wide competition to allow thebest known architects in the country to participate.The UPgovernment has simply handed the project to a Delhi-based company calledConsulting Architects Planners Services. Sources within NPCC allege that CAPShas already received an advance of Rs 1.6 crore of the total Rs 4.25 crore beingpaid for executing this project. The NPCC is also reported to havepaid Rs 17 crore to a Delhi-based construction company Ishvakoo (India) Pvt. Ltdfor removing the sand.Defending the work NPCC chairman SC Bali says,"All our drawings have been approved by IIT Roorkee." The six-member Roorkheeteam have in their notings declared "the plans supplied (to them) aresmudged...no monuments can be made out on them."A PIL has been filedin the Supreme Court against the construction work.