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Call for making Taj more disabled-friendly
US national tweets about lack of wheel-chair accessibility at the main mausoleum stairs; ASI says facility available for most part of the monument, barring the main mausoleum and marble floor around it where a ramp is not feasible
Agra A tweet from a US national about a part of the Taj Mahal not being accessible on wheel-chair has raised a question mark on facilities for the differently-abled at this world heritage monument.
However, as per the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), managing the conservation work at the monument, most part of the monument is accessible on wheel-chairs, barring the main mausoleum and marble floor around it, where the facility is not possible for practical reasons.
On January 6, Adam Walker, a resident of New York, US, caught the attention of many on twitter after he narrated the ordeal faced by his Indian brother-in-law who had to carry his physically challenged wife while going up and climbing down 22 stairs of the main mausoleum at Taj.
“Why does one of the top monuments in the world, Taj Mahal not have wheelchair accessibility? My brother-in-law had to carry my handicapped sister-in-law up and down 22 stairs. Not only is this undignified, it is also downright dangerous. It’s 2023 !!” said Adam Walker, a techy reported to be married to an Indian with whose family he was at the Taj Mahal in the first week of this month.
The family was provided a wheel-chair but not for the main floor around the main mausoleum. Adam attached a video in which his brother-in-law is seen walking down the stairs carrying his physically challenged wife.
Chief superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Raj Kumar Patel said that 90% of the monument was accessible on wheel-chairs, barring the minarets (now closed for entry), the main platform and the main mausoleum at Taj Mahal.
“While maintaining world heritage sites, we have to keep in mind that new interventions of any kind will damage the authenticity and integrity of world heritage property. Anything disturbing visual integrity needs to be avoided, especially at the Taj Mahal known for its architectural delight,” said Patel.
“To ensure wheel-chair accessibility and make monuments disabled -friendly, a detailed exercise was conducted in 2010. Most of the ASI -protected monuments, including the prominent ones in Agra, have elaborate wheel-chair accessibility. Even for Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri in Agra, a ramp is there for visitors,” asserted Patel.
“There are ramps available on both east and west sides of the Taj for wheel -chairs to reach till ‘chameli farsh’, the platform just underneath main white marble platform at Taj Mahal but for reaching the main white marble floor, the idea of ramp does not practically seem feasible in the given conditions,” said the ASI chief.
ASI officials say that for every one feet of height, the ramp should be 12 feet long. The height of the main platform at Taj is 22 ft and this would require 240 to 250 ft long ramp on both sides of the main platform, a length which might reach the side wall of the monument and look like highways created on both arms of the main floor of Taj Mahal.
However, a veteran of Agra tourism industry and former president of Tourism Guild of Agra Arun Dang called for a more sensitive approach, specially in this age of technological advancement.
“The visual aspect of Taj Mahal is a priority but experts can be consulted to find a way out since the issue is related to tourism and those differently- abled,” he said.
