The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday handed over to the Supreme Court its draft of a vision document proposing to declare the Taj Mahal complex a no-plastic zone, rid of all polluting industries.
The State said even use of bottled water should be prohibited, with special emphasis on eco-friendly tourism hubs.
The draft submitted before a Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur recommended a comprehensive traffic management plan along the Yamuna river front aimed at promoting pedestrian movement in the Taj heritage precinct. Further, there should be no construction on the Yamuna floodplain and the riverbank should only have natural plantations.
The apex court has been monitoring the development in the area to protect the UNESCO world heritage structure built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal in 1643.
The government submitted that the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, was conducting an assessment of air pollution levels in and around the mausoleum and Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ), and they would give their report within four months. The TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq km spread across the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur of Rajasthan
The court had asked why only four ambient air quality monitoring stations were set up at Agra, against the 22 required. It directed the Centre to file an affidavit giving details of what has already been done for the protection of the Taj and what the government intended to do further.
The Bench said since the matter had been pending for long, it would take up the issue on a day-to-day basis from July 31.