New Delhi, November 22
The Taj Mahal and its four minarets are “quite stable in plan as well as elevation”, the government today said, dispelling all apprehensions that the 358-year-old marvel in marble was on the verge of collapsing.

Culture Minister Kumari Selja told Parliament that doomsday reports and predictions about the symbol of eternal love were “without any proper scientific basis”. She said scientific studies conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) through premier agencies like the Survey of India in Dehradun, the Central Building Research Institute in Roorkee and the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad concluded that the monument, including the four minarets, was quite stable in plan as well as elevation.

The Culture Minister assured that the conservation work at the Taj Mahal was going on continuously depending upon the need of repairs and availability of resources and the monument was being regularly monitored through essential studies.

Based on inputs from some Agra-based campaigners, there were recently some media reports suggesting that India’s leading tourist attraction would collapse within five years unless urgent action was taken to shore up its foundations.

The activists said the Yamuna flowing next to the monument was being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation. The Taj is built on mahogany posts sunk into wells fed by the river, which is crucial for its survival. But dropping water levels in the river were damaging the wood, making it brittle, they said.

Incidentally, all this was besides the cracks in parts of the tomb and tilting of its four minarets reported by the activists last year.

Agra MP Ramshankar Katheria was quoted as saying that: “If this persists, the minarets may also collapse since the wooden foundation-beneath the wells is rotting due to lack of water.” A well-known authority on the Taj, Professor Ram Nath, also maintained that the river was a constituent of its design and if it dies, the monument could not possibly survive.

Subsequent to the media report, the Supreme Court had also sought a response from the ASI and the Central ministries of environment and forests, culture and water resources. The apex court had also asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to give its views on the reported danger to the Taj.