New Delhi | The entire precinct of Taj Mahal should be declared a no-plastic zone and use of bottled water be also prohibited there, the Uttar Pradesh government today suggested to the Supreme Court in its first draft report of a vision document on protection and preservation of the 17th century monument.
The state government has also said that all polluting and sick industries from the area be removed and focus should be on having a comprehensive traffic management system in which pedestrian movement should be encouraged.
In its draft report, covering the assessment undertaken at Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) level, Agra level and Taj Mahal precinct, the state government has suggested a slew of measures to restore the pristine glory of the iconic monument.
TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq km spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
“The entire precinct should be declared as a no-plastic zone, including the use of bottled water,” it said, adding, “the (Yamuna) river edges must be cleared from the accumulated solid waste and no untreated sewage discharge should be allowed throughout the stretch of the river.”
The draft report, running into more than 220 pages, said a balanced approach towards environment and development should be adopted at Taj Mahal precinct level and the comprehensive traffic management plan should encourage the visitors to travel on foot or use eco-friendly modes of transport.
It said road widening schemes in the heritage precincts to accommodate the increasing traffic need to be prohibited and battery operated eco-friendly modes of transport along tourist routes was required to be introduced with designated stops for ‘hop on hop off’.
The state suggested that visual clutter, including electric cables and hoardings, should be minimised to enhance the overall experience of visitors and Agra city should be made pedestrian friendly with adequate pedestrian infrastructure at place.
It said that to deal with the issue of pollution in the area, afforestation should be promoted in the TTZ region by increasing the green areas and polluting and private vehicles should be restricted in the region.
The draft report said that for traffic management system for Agra city should enable transition towards e-mobility and green fuels and electric vehicles or vehicles running on cleaner hydrogen furl should be used.
It said safety of tourists there should not be compromised and all transport system developments should be with an objective of improving accessibility, road safety and air quality.
The state said no construction or built forms should be proposed on the flood plains and Yamuna river banks should only have natural plantations.
It said that strategy should be developed to make the Taj precinct as a “special area” with no development around it and river fronts should be demarcated and notified as environmental heritage zone in the Master Plan of Agra.
The “master plan of Agra needs to remove the residential areas that have been proposed on the river edges which will impact the floodplains”, it said.
The draft report said drains in the Taj precinct should be covered and a green buffer must be designed and any further development on reserved forest area and its extension should not be allowed.
It said that Taj precinct should be preferred to be a “pedestrianised zone” having shaded sidewalks, controlled traffic and designated cycling infrastructure.
It has suggested about “closure of polluting industries in the region and promotion with incentives in alterative industries as per availability of raw materials” and “removal of sick industries and allocating lands to more economical non-polluting white and green category of industries” there.
The report said that heritage conservation and tourism plan has to be prepared and strategy should be there to relocate and remove illegal or unregistered industries from within the city limit.
It said since Agra basically has a tourism-driven economy, there was a need to shift in focus from tourism to developing other sectors to bring livelihood opportunities for the locals and a robust community participation must be conducted to create any development guidelines or proposal for residential areas in the precinct.
“Taj precincts needs to be promoted as a garden district,” it said, adding, “Master plan to be prepared keeping the carrying capacity of the city and new developments to be taken place outside the city boundaries”.
The matter was today mentioned before a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta by advocate Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the state government.
Bhati told the court that they be allowed to file the document and the request was allowed by the bench.
The vision document was submitted after an angry apex court on July 11 had lashed out at Uttar Pradesh government for its apathy towards the historic monument, considered one of the seven wonders of the world and a major tourist draw.
The apex court, which has been monitoring development in the area to protect the Taj Mahal built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal at Agra in 1643, would take up the matter on a day-to-day basis from July 31.
The ivory white marble mausoleum is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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