Taj Mahal must be protected or demolished: Supreme Court blasts government

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the protecting the Taj Mahal had become a “hopeless cause” and from July 31 it will hold daily hearings on how to protect the monument from pollution. “Either you shut it, demolish it or restore it,” said the court, expressing dissatisfaction at the Ministry of Environment and Forest's response on how to protect the monument. The court ordered the formation of a special committee to find the source of pollution in and around Taj Mahal in Agra and suggest measures to prevent it, news agency PTI reported. It pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for failing to protect the monument and said a parliamentary standing committee's report had been ignored. Agra lies in an industrial belt, and the city's air pollution levels have risen sharply over the past 30 years. A air pollution database released by the World Health Organisation in May 2018 showed that Agra ranked eighth in the list of cities with filthiest air.