After an expressway,the slow lane to Agra

A traffic policeman says,“There are several routes into Agra,but the main ones are through the National Highway in the north-west,from Jaipur in the west and now the Yamuna Expressway from the north. But once they reach Agra,traffic from the three routes merges into a single lane.”

Last month,when the “world-class” Expressway glided into Agra,it was expected to showcase Agra as a modern city,one which is—in the words of District Magistrate Ajay Chauhan on the city’s official website—more than just a “decadent city of graveyards”. But,instead,it has brought closer home the chaos of the city,the inconvenient truths that had,until now,been hidden behind the splendid facade of the Taj.

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“Politics,” says Imran Najib,a shopkeeper near the Taj Mahal for more than 40 years. “That is all there is to it. The only thing that keeps changing is the government—earlier,it was the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),now it is the Samajwadi Party (SP). The BSP made some plans for Agra,but the SP scrapped them and now claims to be making new ones.

This is a cycle I have seen for four decades now.”

“What people,particularly politicians and bureaucrats,need to understand is that Agra is not just about tourists and tourism. There are close to 20 lakh people living here,most of them trying to make a living,” says Abhinav Jain,who owns a handicrafts emporium near the Taj Mahal.

He says that basic infrastructure in Agra—power,water,roads and sewage—has always played second fiddle to the Taj itself and the VIPs,diplomats and celebrities who visit it.

Just this week,there were protests across Agra against the poor power supply in the city. Shakeel Khan,president of the Society for Social Development,led one such protest on Thursday. “The power situation here is pathetic. We get 10 to 12 hours of electricity a day. We have written to all levels of the government,including the Chief Minister,but nothing has come of it,” Khan says.

The area around the Taj Mahal too isn’t untouched by the power crisis. Despite a Supreme Court order banning the use of generators within a certain radius of the Taj,it is impossible to find an establishment operating without the familiar rumble of a diesel generator. Incidentally,a 1993 Supreme Court order had directed uninterrupted power supply to Agra,home to Fatehpur Sikri,the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal. Experts had said diesel fumes from the generators would harm the walls of the marble monument. A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report in 2001 put the number of generators in Agra at 32,000,the figure is now believed to be close to 80,000.

Naseem Akhtar,an employee at Shahjahan Hotel,metres away from the south gate of the Taj Mahal,says that without the generators,hotel guests wouldn’t be able to explore the lanes surrounding the monument. For close to four months now,the power cuts have ranged from 14 to 18 hours.

“It’s not that we want to flout rules,but business is business and it suffers without power. In summers,we cannot run the ACs and in winters,the heaters do not work,” says Akhtar. He says guests at the hotel wake up every night complaining of the noise from the generators.

“It’s not about one generator,but when every generator in a 10-foot-wide lane starts up,the din is unbelievable,” says Frederique,a tourist from France.

Such is the power crisis in Agra that a national Hindi newspaper started a campaign against it in the first week of September. Spread across the city are huge billboards promoting the campaign,while the newspaper itself devotes at least three full pages a day to Agra’s electricity woes.

According to Khan of the Society for Social Development,Agra’s troubles have increased in the last few years. “Earlier,we would get at least 18 hours of power,now we get only about six,” he says.

The poor power supply has prompted the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) to ask for a report from Dakshinanchal (Agra) Discom which distributes electricity to the district. The Agra district administration has now set up a power grievance cell under the commissioner’s office. District Magistrate Ajay Chauhan says that while power supply to the city is adequate,there are a few problems in supply. “There have been protests for various reasons and so a cell has been set up to handle all grievances.”

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Without power,Agra hasn’t much water either. Rakesh Chauhan,president of the Agra Hotels’ Association,says,“The city’s water supply is,in one word,unusable. Earlier,it used to be yellow and smelly. Now that has stopped but there have been complaints of insects in the water. Now most houses and hotels have borewells.”

In most of the city,including upmarket neighbourhoods,the municipal water supply lasts for a couple of hours every day. So most homes have at least three water tanks on their roofs.

D K Joshi,a member of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee for water,sewage and municipal solid waste,says that Agra’s water table is now deeper than 250 feet. “Two decades ago,it was 50 feet,now it is five times deeper. Our records show that most households in Agra are fully dependent on borewells and that is depleting the water table further,” he says.

After a recent survey which Joshi conducted,he believes there are at least 400 mineral water bottling plants in the city. “This is ridiculous. To produce every litre of this mineral water,10 litres of water goes waste. The Supreme Court had also ordered years ago that Agra was to be supplied potable drinking water 24×7,” says Joshi. According to his estimates,Agra now requires around 700 million litres of water per Day (MLD) while the city’s three primary water sources supply just around 450 MLD. “It is ironic that the state government is working on supplying water from the Ganga through a pipeline. That project aims at supplying 350 MLD to Agra in 2015,but by then,Agra’s water needs would have shot up further,” says Joshi.

But the District Magistrate believes the Gangajal Project—set up in collaboration with a Japanese company—will “solve most of Agra’s water woes”.

Add to this the poor condition of the Yamuna. Rajiv Saxena,secretary of the Tourist Guild of Agra,says the Yamuna has never been in a worse condition. “Agra had some decent rains this time,so the Yamuna seems full. In two months,the river will shrink to a dribble and smell only of sewage,” he says.

Saxena says that the river,on which the foundation of the Taj Mahal itself depends,puts off tourists more than the roads or power cuts.

Joshi says the city generates close to 400 MLD of sewage and 42 drains spew this into the Yamuna. “The three water treatment plants in the city can’t even handle half of the sewage generated. The initial plan was to treat the water and reuse it for drinking,but this was never possible. Then,it was decided that the treated water would be used for irrigation,but that did not work either,” he says.

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Chauhan of the Hotels’ Association says that the city’s associations and tourism bodies meet with government officials at least four times a week,but very little changes on the ground. “The Hotels’ Association,the Tourist Guide Association,the Taxi Associations and the Federation of Travel Associations meet with the government begging for change,but it never happens. We even met with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav,” he says.

A senior government official says the Agra Development Authority earned somewhere between Rs 50-60 crore in just ticket revenues last year. “This money is meant to be spent in improving the city,particularly around the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort,but is instead used to repair small roads,drains and streetlights in areas where powerful politicians live,” he says.

An airport and the need to bring alive Agra’s nightlife top the wishlist for those in the business of tourism. According to Saxena of the Tourist Guild of Agra,while the Yamuna Expressway might prove to be a boon for tourists,the industry in Agra thinks otherwise. He says,“With the Expressway,tourists will now use Delhi as a base and wrap up their visit to Agra in a day. And it’s understandable since there is little else to do in the city. We have been demanding light and sound shows,evening programmes in the open and similar entertainment to keep customers in Agra for at least a night. So far,Agra has offered nothing to tourists other than a visit to these monuments.”