Justice Kurian Joseph has cited the hazard posed by crematorium near the monument of love

An urgent personal letter from the Supreme Court judge, Justice Kurian Joseph, to protect the grandeur of the 17th Century monument and UNESCO World Heritage site, Taj Mahal, from further damage caused by the smoke and ash from a public crematorium situated nearby gained momentum with the Archaeological Survey of India supporting the judge in the apex court on Monday.

A two-page letter written by Justice Kurian gives a graphic picture of what he saw during a visit on September 26. “Huge fire and thick smoke was noticed in the vicinity of Taj Mahal on a view from Lal Quila at 7 p.m. on the day. On enquiring from the District Judge and ASI authorities, who also witnessed the sight, I was told that there is a public crematorium within a radius of 500 metres of the monument maintained by the Agra Nagar Nigam. The authorities also informed that the sight is a frequent one, considering an average of 25 bodies being cremated at the facility every day, using firewood and other fuels,” Justice Kurian wrote in first person.

He recorded how he observed that the wind direction often played havoc and caused the smoke and ash to fly towards Taj Mahal. This, he pointed out, was “one among the major identified causes for the deterioration of the physical lustre, which ultimately may even pose a threat to the stability of the structure.”

The letter read in open court became the centre point of the hearing before a Special Bench of Justices T.S Thakur and C.N. Nagappan. The court swung into action immediately, even as the ASI whole-heartedly supported Justice Kurian’s suggestion to re-locate the crematorium.

Besides re-location, Justice Kurian asked the Supreme Court to direct the Nigam to even explore the possibility of providing an electric crematorium as this would be “in tandem with the ongoing debate of climate change and the Prime Minister’s initiatives of a cleaner environment.” He suggested that as a short-term measure, the crematorium could be operated from an enclosure using eco-friendly fuel.

The Bench passed on the copies of the letters to the Uttar Pradesh government, which assured the court to get back on the suggestions made by the judge in a fortnight. The court has asked a team to conduct a field inspection and asked its Central Empowered Committee to pitch in with solutions.

During the hearing, noted environmental lawyer M.C. Mehta, whose petition had highlighted the threat of air pollution around Agra’s grand symbol of love, said questions about the proximity of the crematorium were raised way back in 1998 before the Supreme Court. But all that had come to no avail as the State government had not even filed a response in court.

Meanwhile, the court’s attention was also drawn to the poor state of affairs of a road at the rear of the Taj Mahal.

Looking at pictures of the road, Justice Thakur told the State that the “workmanship is so poor that your engineers should be ashamed of themselves and there should be an investigation on this.”

“They made it [Taj Mahal] with their bare hands in the 17th Century. Brought material in bullock carts. You with your modern tools should be able to do better,” Justice Thakur remarked.

In response, the State’s Secretary for Tourism, who was present in the courtroom, said efforts were on to enhance the “Taj experience” so that “a visit to the Taj Mahal should not be left to the monument alone.”

He told the Bench that slums had been razed in the monument’s vicinity, over 1,300 toilets had been built, benches had been placed and shady trees planted to beautify the surroundings.