With an aim to come clean on Taj Mahal controversy, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will lead a team of 500 volunteers to launch Swachchhata Abhiyan at the Mughal monument’s western gate on October 26 in a symbolic gesture of importance being given to the 17th century monument.
Setting to rest the controversy over the Taj Mahal, the CM will reach Agra at 8 am on October 26 and proceed directly to Taj Mahal.
During his day-long visit to Agra, the CM will dedicate most of his time to touring the Taj Mahal, including a visit to the mausoleum of Shahjahan and his wife Noorjahan.
District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal said that the CM will be laying the foundation stone of the proposed Rs 370-crore developmental plan aimed at promoting tourism. A part of this amount has been earmarked for the ongoing Rs 156-crore World Bank-funded pro-poor tourism scheme for development works in the vicinity around Taj Mahal.
“Besides inaugurating several development projects, he will be inspecting the Taj Mahal and the vicinity around it. We are making all requisite arrangements in this regard,” he added.
Yogi had already spoken about several development plans in the pipeline, including the plan to develop a rubber check dam across river Yamuna near the Taj, crucial for its preservation.
According to sources, the municipal corporation was ensuring cleanliness in the vicinity around the Taj, Shah Jahan Garden, Mehtab Bagh, Kachpura and wards of Tajganj locality, which the CM is expected to visit.
A senior official of the tourism department said, “Under the pro-poor tourism scheme, CM will lay the foundation stone of three projects — two in Agra and one for Mathura. These are development of a multi-level parking space near the western gate of the Taj, various development works at Kachpura village located near the monument and construction of a pathway between Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. In Mathura, the entry point of Banke Bihari Temple is proposed to be developed at a cost of Rs 20 crore.”
CM had said in Gorakhpur that as the Taj Mahal is built on “wooden slippers” these have shrunk because of the decrease in the water levels in the Yamuna. “A plan to develop a rubber dam and a riverfront for promotion of tourism has been prepared,” he said.
The controversy was erupted after Bharatiya Janata Party law maker Sangeet Som termed the Mughal-era monument as a ‘blot on Indian culture’. He had said that Taj Mahal should have no place in the Indian history as it was built by traitors.
The Yogi government even deleted the profile of the 17thcentury monument from UP’s official tourism booklet. The brochure listed destinations such as Gorakhnath Peeth (temple) in Gorakhpur, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is Mahant.
Many ministers including Minority Affairs Minister Chaudhary laxmi Narayan Chaudhary defended government action saying that the Taj Mahal was not a symbol of any particular religion. He had said last month that the monument had been ‘rightly kept out of tourism booklet and should be replaced with Gorakhnath Peeth’.
Earlier BJP MP Vinay Katiyar had claimed the Taj Mahal was actually a Shiv temple built by Raja Jai Singh and named ‘Tejo Mai Mahal’ (shining palace).