New Delhi, July 03: Union Culture and Tourism Minister Jagmohan is meeting with officials from Uttar Pradesh and other Central departments to discuss the fate of the constructed area in the Taj Heritage Zone. The controversial project came to a halt last week following intense media pressure and after Jagmohan visited the site. While the state government has ordered an inquiry into who authorised the work, the reality is that the Rs 175 crore Heritage Project has been controversial right from the start. The project was supposed to link the Agra Fort on one side to the Taj Mahal on the other by a 75 acre wide raised embankment. The plan was to create parks, a car park, an amusement theme place and a hotel on the embankment.


In May 1998, the ministry of forests created the Taj Trapezium Zone Pollution Prevention and Control Authority, which was given powers to check and monitor all constructions and development in the area around the Taj.

But the construction of a seven-foot high embankment along the Yamuna river started in January this year without consulting the authority.

Concerned with the ongoing work, a writ was filed in the Supreme Court and on May 1 and the court issued orders to stop all work at the site. The state government gave an undertaking that it would stop all construction.
But work resumed after some weeks in mid May, until it was finally stopped when Jagmohan visited the site.
Bureau Report