It's a battle of the bulge in major cities of Uttar Pradesh. Be it Agra, or the more sedate towns of Aligarh and Meerut, the Manchester of the East Kanpur or pilgrims' delight Varanasi and Allahabad or the industrialised hub of the state, Ghaziabad-it has spread everywhere. The mounting pressure of the population is pushing the edges to these towns to their margins. This, coupled with the crumbling edifice of the urban infrastructure, is adding to the worry lines of town planners when they sit down to plan and visualise these cities two decades from now.

An overhead water tank has suddenly sprung up near the Taj complex and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which looks after the monument, says it is clueless as to who built the

Rs 1,950 crore for interceptors is in addition to Rs 387 crore under the Yamuna Action Plan II and Rs 1,500 crore spent on Yamuna cleaning in Delhi. But interceptors have failed in Agra, Varanasi and other places

They will not work in Delhi as well because even if all the city's sewage (3,600 mld) is intercepted and treated the river would require 24,000 of freshwater for diluting it to make it fit for bathing, at a conservative estimate

A damning SC verdict led to Mathura Refinery putting in place many green measures

IN 1984, a writ petition filed in the I SC by environmental lawyer M.C. I Mehta named Mathura Refinery, a psu located in the Taj zone, along with other small industries and foundries for causing "acid rain", which led to corroding the surface of the Taj Mahal.

THE Taj has been under siege from man-made elements for a long time, and in the last two decades, various prescriptions have been suggested to save it from the ravages of industrial pollution. The latest, though, has flummoxed even our normally sedate historians and conservationists. The Archaeological

Fluoride is known to contaminate groundwater reserves globally. Excess fluoride, wherever present in groundwater in INdia, is mainly in the concentration range of 1.5 to 6.5 mg L-1 against its critical limit of 1.5 mg L-1 in drinking water.

The concept paper describes the problems of the city of Agra and the anxeityy of the Hon'ble Supreme Court articulated in the various orders passed in connection with the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 13381/84-M.C. Mehta Vs. Union of India & Others. The paper also goes on to describe the various projects of the Taj Protection Mission.

Judgement of the Supreme Court of India on Taj Mahal dated 30/12/1996 in the matter of M. C. Mehta Vs Union of India & Others. The judges noted that the Taj is threatened with deterioration and damage not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of damage or destruction.

The Government of India announced its decision in 1973 to set up a 6 million tonne per year Petroleum Oil Refinery at Mathura under the Indian Oil Corporation of India.

To protect the treasured monument - Taj Mahal - from the possible effects of chemicals in air, the Government of India constituted a High Power Committee to oversee the implementation of the necessary air pollution control measures in Agra Mathura Region and an Expert Group to assist the Committee with its scientific and technical findings.

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