SC wants Taj Mahal survey to be completed in 6 weeks
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to complete its investigation within six weeks on the safety of the 17th century Mughal structure-- Taj Mahal following media reports that the monument of love might collapse in next five years.
A Bench of Justices D K Jain and A R Dave also pulled up ASI for claiming in an affidavit that it had started a scientific survey – ‘study of verticality and minarets and monitoring structural stability of Taj Mahal by geodetic observations’ – in 2005 which also continued in 2009-10.
The Bench had earlier directed ASI to submit report within two weeks on the surveys undertaken after 2005 by the Survey of India and Central Building Research Institute on its safety aspect.
The affidavit filed by ASI on Wednesday referred to a report prepared by Survey of India on May 20 which stated that the minaret had remained stable. “It can be inferred that the structure has remained quite stable in elevation from 1940 to 2010. The result of recent exercise to determine the tilt of the minarets, their horizontal and vertical movements and those of the structure as a whole have shown that the minarets of Taj Mahal have remained stable and the changes found are insignificant,” the affidavit said.
