Local commissioners appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to inspect the Lotus Temple have said there was “visible discoloration of a large number of tiles” on the structure. Acknowledging that they could not establish the reasons for the discoloration, the commissioners have suggested that the Tribunal direct the Geological Survey of India and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to examine the reasons, including whether wind direction has a role to play.
Two advocates were appointed as local commissioners by the NGT following a petition that air pollution around the Bahai Temple in Southeast Delhi was contributing to discoloration of the temple made of white marble.
The commissioners have said in their report that “universally” sulphur dioxide was known to attack calcite in marble.
“Several attempts were made to access data from the IMD but to no avail,” the report prepared by local commissioners Neha Kurian and Aditya Prasad have noted.
The commissioners visited the temple premises on April 15. Based on the publicly available wind directions from the IMD website, the commissioners have said, “The direction of the prevailing winds may have a direct nexus with the source of pollution, which could be affecting the marble used in the temple,” the report submitted to the NGT on May 1 notes.
On the area around the temple, the commissioners observed that ongoing construction activities have contributed to “visible dust in the air which was freely flowing from the construction site”. They also noted a lot of traffic congestion from visitors to the temple with most vehicles parked on the main road outside the temple.
The road leading to the temple from the Nehru Place Metro station was found to be laden with “open debris” and the manholes on the road from Eros Intercontinental till the station causes further stagnation of vehicles, the report states.
