THE NEW ENEMY…

2014-17 A study by IIT, Kanpur and US-based University of Wisconsin and Georgia Institute of Technology finds the Taj Mahal still under the pollution cloud; not SO2 but of black carbon, organic carbon and dust, primarily from human activity in the city, especially biomass burning

2015 A parliamentary committee, chaired by Ashwani Kumar, recommends closure or removal of glass and petha industries from the TTZ; urges ban on diesel generators, directs 24-hour power supply to Taj

2015 What’s in the air? A study of urban emissions from the ambient monitoring data available under the National Ambient Monitoring Programme (NAMP), on PM10, SO2 and NO2 shows the following sources of pollution 2015 Researchers from the University of Minnesota report that open burning of municipal solid waste (MSW) is a major source of PM emissions in Agra—223 tonnes/ day or 24% of the total MSW generated (Environmental Science & Technology, Nov. 2015)

2016 The Hota committee, set up by the Union environment ministry to find out the impact of industrial pollution on the Taj Mahal, recommends only non-polluting ‘white category’ new industrial units in the TTZ; recommendations not implemented