CASE STUDY ON EFFECT OF

POLLUTION ON TAJ MAHAL

BY F3 BATCH,MECHANICAL DIVISION 2009-2010

 ORIGIN AND INSPIRATION
• In 1631, Shah Jahan, emperor during the
Mughal Empire's period of greatest
prosperity, was griefstricken when his third
wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died during the birth
of their fourteenth child, Gauhara Begum.
Construction of the Taj Mahal began in
1632, one year after her death.The court
chronicles of Shah Jahan's grief illustrate
the love story traditionally held as an
inspiration for Taj Mahal. The principal
mausoleum was completed in 1648 and
the surrounding buildings and garden were
finished five years later.
• Emperor Shah Jahan himself
described the Taj in these
words:
• Should guilty seek asylum
here,
Like one pardoned, he
becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way
to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be
washed away.
The sight of this mansion
creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon
shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has
been made;
To display thereby the
creator's glory.
 CONSTRUCTION
• The Taj Mahal was built on a
parcel of land to the south of
the walled city of Agra. Shah
Jahan presented Maharajah
Jai Singh with a large palace in
the center of Agra in exchange
for the land. An area of roughly
three acres was excavated,
filled with dirt to reduce
seepage, and leveled at 50
meters above riverbank. In the
tomb area, wells were dug and
filled with stone and rubble to
form the footings of the tomb.
Instead of lashed bamboo,
workmen constructed a
colossal brick scaffold that
mirrored the tomb.
• The total cost has been
estimated to be about 32
million Rupees at that time.

• In all, twenty eight types of

precious and semi-precious
stones were inlaid into the
white marble.

• Marble - Rajasthan
• Jasper - punjab
• Jade - china
• Torquise - tibet
 TAJ ONE OF THE 7 WONDERS
• Mark Twain once remarked “the world is divided
between two types of people: those who have seen
the Taj Mahal and those who have not.”

• The Taj is one of the most recognizable landmarks

in the world and the image most associated with
India. It is indeed the Taj of all Indian monuments.
One of the famous stories about its grandeur goes as
once a British couple visited Taj , seeing its
unparallel beauty the wife said “if you promise to
build a taj in my memory I am ready to die now .“
WHITE STARTS GOING YELLOW

• “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,”
declared U.S. President Bill Clinton during his visit to the
taj
• On repeated occasions, sulphur dioxide emissions from
industries have reached levels ten times above the
prescribed standard level. Combined with oxygen and
moisture, sulphur dioxide settles on the surface of the
tomb and corrodes the marble, forming a fungus that
experts refer to as “marble cancer”.
 WHAT HAPPENED THEN
• Blaming pollution and regulatory negligence for the
Taj’s decay, Mahesh Chandra Mehta, a prominent
environmental lawyer, filed a case before the Supreme
Court of India in 1984.
 GOVERNMENT DECISION
• In August 1999, the
Supreme Court struck
ordering the closure of 53
iron foundries and 107
other factories in Agra
that had not cleaned up
their act. The order has
become a call to arms for
foundry owners, workers,
trade union
representatives and
small-scale industry.
 DELAY TACTICS

In the meantime, Agra’s Iron

Founders’Association are building up
their case. They argue that 3,000
cottage and engineering units depend
on the foundries, and that about
300,000 workers are directly or
indirectly employed by them. They hold
that the technology for using natural
gas in their industries is not yet ready.
Mehta claims that this is a “delaying
tactic
PLIGHT OF WORKER’S AGRA

• Although union leaders are firmly opposed to any

relocation or factory closures, the battle has brought
other concerns to the fore. According to a leader from
the Centre for Indian Trade Unions, the entire foundry
industry is highly exploitative and the working conditions
hazardous. The majority of workers are employed on a
contract basis despite having worked for long periods in
the foundries–which means they would receive no
protection if factories were to close.
 ATLAST THE WAR IS WON
• The Hon'ble Supreme Court after examining all the reports were the
active contributors to the air pollution in the said area.

• All the 292 industries were to approach/apply to the GAIL before

15.2.1997 for grant of industrial gas-connection.

• The industries which were not in a position to obtain gas-connections,

to approach UPSIDC before 28.2.1997, for allotment of alternative plots
in the industrial estates outside

• Those industries, which neither applied for gas-connection nor for

alternate industrial plots should stop functioning using coke/coal as fuel
in the TTZ w.e.f. 30.4.1997. The supply of coke/coal to these industries
shall be stopped forthwith
PRESENT SITUATION

ALL INDIAN MONUMENTS

ARE NOT AS LUCKY AS TAJ
TO HAVE SAVIOUR LIKE AD.
MEHTA AND MANAGE TO
SURVIVE SUFFOCATING IN
POLLUTION , IGNORANCE OF
CITIZENS AND INEFFICIENCY
OF JUDICIARY.
THANK YOU