SC allows night viewing of Taj

The Supreme Court has finally granted approval to the UP Government for night viewing of the Taj Mahal. But the permission carries a rider. The government will have to arrange for X-ray scanners and a system of issuing entry tickets through computers. The court has kept its decision reserved on the state government’s request to allow it to hold cultural programme at Mehtab Bagh in the backdrop of the monument.

According to a press statement issued yesterday by Zohra Chaterjee, the secretary and the director general of UP Tourism, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had pleaded that it be given some time — till it got the report of National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) — to decide on UP government’s request regarding the holding of cultural programmes at the Mehtab Bagh.

The UP government, with an aim to project the state on international tourism map, had decided to observe 350 years of Taj Mahal in a grand way. The festivities were set to start on September 27 from the Agra Fort.

The ASI had not sanctioned the permission fearing that loud music and blaring lights could harm the 17th century monument. Determined to go ahead with its plans, the state government pleaded before the Supreme Court to get a survey conducted by NEERI to find out how much damage the cultural show could cause. Now, NEERI will present its report on October 13 before the secretary, Environment, Government of India.