AS THE pollution threat to the Taj Mahal from industries around Agra becomes a topic of hot debate, the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has given a clean chit to the Mathura refinery -- the biggest of them all -- saying its emissions are well within the prescribed norms, a statement no one believes.

Local industrialists contend they are being penalised for the refinery misdeeds. The Mathura refinery has been allowed to add as much as one tonne of SO2 every hour, while other factory owners allege their total SO2 emissions amount to barely 20 per cent of the refinery's emissions.

T Shivaji Rao, professor of environmental engineering at Andhra University who has studied the pollution in Agra, asks, "On what scientific basis is the refinery allowed an emission level of one tonne an hour?" UPPCB regional officer at Agra O P Garg says, "The quota was determined after a lot of expert opinion had been taken into account." He categorically denies that the refinery poses a threat to the environment around the Taj and says, "All the SO2 emitted by the refinery disappears in the atmosphere before it can reach Agra."

Rao is shocked at Garg's answer. "What does it mean? If the gas disappears, where does it go? Has the government investigated the level of acid rain the SO2 is causing in the area?" There are also those who argue that the mere presence of SO2 in the atmosphere will not damage the Taj. They say only in the presence of catalysts will the gas turn into sulphuric acid, which is corrosive to marble.

C K Varshney, professor of environmental studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University who is also India's best known expert on acid rain, says, "Both the SO2 and the oxides of nitrogen are detrimental to marble. It is also true that acidic fumes are forming over Agra. Any talk of safe emission limits are myths. The only safe limit is zero."