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Journalism of Courage
Few cities boast of three UNESCO World Heritage sites. Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, the abandoned capital of Fatehpur Sikri and the Fort that is its very own Lal Qila, is thrice blessed. The Taj, of course, is the jewel in the crown, attracting 2.2 million visitors in 2004, earning the Archaeological Survey India ASI Rs 13.5 crore in ticket sales.
There are days when the Taj is so packed, says V. Khamo Singh 8212; the Manipur-born CISF commandant who is in charge of security for the 27-acre complex 8212; that 20,000 tourists troop in. The 165-strong CISF posse works in two shifts. 8216;8216;So on a bad day,8217;8217; she points out, 8216;8216;you could have a jawan frisking maybe 5,000 people in five hours8230;Sometimes, it may be difficult for him to keep smiling.8217;8217;
The Taj is everybody8217;s baby and nobody8217;s. The ASI is responsible for its preservation, the Agra Development Authority ADA for its environs and for assisting the ASI in helping tourists. The CISF keeps vigil, its plainclothes men looking out for vandals. Local tourist operators are, of course, there to do business.
By common consensus, the ADA, headed by the district magistrate, is the Taj Mahal8217;s Enemy Number One. It uses the mausoleum as a milch cow. It gets Rs 250 from every foreign visitor who visits the Taj or its sister monuments, amounting to, says a senior official in Delhi, 8216;8216;Rs 25 crore or so a year8217;8217;. The money is meant to develop Agra.
Instead, the city is a mosquito-infested mess 8212; open drains, bad roads, power cuts, an enveloping darkness that has hoteliers warning guests against venturing out at night. It says something about how sensitive the state government has been to heritage issues that a stone8217;s throw from the Taj, on the Old Fatehebad Road 8212; now called the Taj Road 8212; are a power station and a Japanese-built leprosy hospital. These are about the last sights you see before entering the planet8217;s most famous labour of love.
D. Dayalan, superintending archaeologist, waves away questions on the Mathura refinery. 8216;8216;The acids coming from the refinery are under control,8217;8217; he says, 8216;8216;they are monitored. But what about environmental pollution? SPM levels are meant to be under 800 units. But sometimes they go above.8217;8217;
SPM 8212; suspended particulate matter 8212; is produced by industrial and automobile pollution, the chemical cocktail of urban grime. A dirty Agra cannot ensure a healthy Taj.
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The WHAT TO DO list
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1 Develop the Mehtab Bagh region behind the Taj. If the Yamuna is cleaned, this can be a riverside promenade. Story continues below this ad |
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Neither can it appeal to tourists. The Tourism Guild of Agra TGA is the apex body of the city8217;s hoteliers, tour operators, emporia owners.
The TGA8217;s secretary is Debasish Bhowmik, general manager of the Clarks Shiraz, one of Agra8217;s five five-star hotels. Two months ago, the TGA wrote to the state tourism minister: infrastructure is creaking, the city8217;s 8216;8216;tourism experience8217;8217; is simply not enough.
8216;8216;What does a tourist do after sunset?8217;8217; Bhowmik asks, 8216;8216;night-viewing of the Taj is only allowed on certain days. Are food festivals enough to keep them entertained?8217;8217; Nightlife is 8216;8216;non-existent8217;8217;, the Sadar Bazaar is deserted by 8 pm. 8216;8216;We8217;ve been talking and talking of a night bazaar,8217;8217; mutters a travel industry insider.
The TGA has been pleading with the ADA to light up St John8217;s College, an impressive Company-era structure that could be an ancillary attraction for upper-end tourists. Sidewalk cafes and cultural shows are non-existent.
The government-organised Taj Mahotsav takes place in spring, after the peak season, and is quickly reduced to a binging session for local officials. 8216;8216;Foreigners come in mere hundreds,8217;8217; complains Sandeep Arora, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Agra 8212; a collective of budget hotels 8212; 8216;8216;but at the Pushkar Mela they go in thousands.8217;8217; A local hotel manager quotes a French tour operator: 8216;8216;Jaipur has so much more to do.8217;8217;
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Figuring the Taj
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8226; 1.8 million tourists visit the Taj every year, 364,000 foreigners. The Taj alone earns the ASI Rs 13.5 crore, all three Agra monuments, Rs 25.3 crore. Rs 3 crore is spent on the Taj8217;s upkeep |
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No wonder tourists take the expressway from Delhi, and zip in and out of the Taj area, bypassing Agra. The figures say it. Agra has 2,800 rooms in approved roughly three star and above hotels. Average stay in these hotels was 1.4 days in 2004. In 2003, it was 0.87 days.
MEANWHILE the Taj is a construction site near its two main gates. The ASI, with funding from the Tata Group, is setting up facilitation/interpretation centres. Since as per Supreme Court orders nothing, not even water bottles are allowed inside, water coolers and well-appointed toilets are in place. Even a few miles away, the toilets at Fathepur Sikri wear a more familiar, grotty look 8212; but the Taj has the showpiece urinals.
In terms of conservation, Dixit refers to the recent 8216;8216;mudpack 8230; a sort of multani mitti treatment for monuments8217;8217; that has left the Taj8217;s archways looking whiter.
The dome itself looks visibly darker. Its 8216;8216;primary cleaning agent is rainwater8217;8217;. Appropriately, the Taj8217;s deliverance from Agra may also have to be a gift from heaven.
