Taj Ganj shop owners on war path as ADA serves notice to down shutters by Oct 17

Agra, Oct 2 (IANS) A pale of gloom and despair has descended on the Taj Ganj place within the region of the Taj Mahal. Uncertainty approximately future and the spectre of thousands dropping gainful employment thru a myriad set of commercial sports stare at the citizens of slim lanes and mohallas of this densely populated area which many have defined as ‘dwelling history.’

Not best small shops however also the tiny clusters of artisans engaged in enormously skilled marble inlay paintings, could suffer if the Supreme Court order introduced remaining week directing the neighborhood authorities to forestall commercial sports inside 500 metres of the outer edge of the Taj Mahal, is completed.

After the industries within the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) had been shut in 1996, it’s now the turn of over 400 stores, accommodations, fast food joints, emporiums, inside 500 metres of the periphery of the 17th century monument of love, to down the shutters.

A Supreme Court directive to the Agra Development Authority (ADA) to prevent all industrial activities in the 500 metre area has alarmed the proprietors of shops and other institutions, who now fear devastation and end of a journey.

The ADA has requested all store keepers to make sure that every one industrial sports are halted with the aid of October 17. They were asked not you acquire sparkling goods or materials for sale. The survey is now over and plans are afoot to limit motion of cars carrying components to the shops. The Taj Ganj police station has placed up fresh boundaries at the entry factors.

Meanwhile, an movement committee has been formed to symbolize the affected save keepers’ case. A evaluation petition is probable to be filed. A crew is going to satisfy the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow.

The consensus at a meeting on Saturday turned into that due to the fight among two corporations of shopkeepers and the ADA, all business institutions have needed to pay a completely heavy charge.

Lawyers say that since there was a precedent of 1996, whilst all industries were advised to shut down or shift, the sufferers of the contemporary order may additionally find it tough to cozy any comfort from the apex court docket now.

But if statistics are properly supplied, with the ancient timeline, the apex court may also reconsider the case, hopes Raman, a member of the Supreme Court monitoring committee. The TTZ Authority need to soak up the case and are looking for relief for the affected events, say the activists.

It may be recalled that the excessive powered Dr S Vardrajan committee constituted through the Supreme Court in 1993 while considering the MC Mehta PIL on Taj pollution, had desired ‘de-congestion’ of Taj Ganj vicinity. Later, the Archaeological Survey of India moved amendments to the Ancient Monuments Act to regulate sports in the one hundred metre, 200 metre and 500 metre zones.

Hundreds of FIRs against encroachments and unlawful buildings are pending disposal. The monuments in Agra are dwarfed through excessive upward push buildings and encroachments as the police have no longer afflicted to do so. As matters stand, the degree is prepared for a standoff and avoidable disagreement that might critically affect the vacationer season.