Sound, light won't affect Taj, dust will, says pollution board

Syed Firdaus Ashraf and Suparn Verma in New Delhi

Yanni won’t ruin the Taj Mahal, only the green belt around it. But this same belt was placed to protect the Taj from destructive chemicals. So…

Dr R C Trivedi, a senior scientist at Central Pollution Control Board, told Rediff on the NeT, "It is unlikely that the sound or light will affect the monument. However, the green belt developed around the northwest end of the Taj will be destroyed by the vehicles moving in the vicinity." Trivedi is one of the scientists deputed by the Supreme Court to look into the betterment of the Taj.

Though the Supreme Court has not permitted entry of vehicles within 300 metres of the Taj Mahal, trucks have been coming up to the monument for the last two months. Acting on advice from the Dr S Vardarajan committee in 1994, no changes have been made near the monument other than the inclusion in July of 26 species of broad-leaf plants to absorb damaging chemicals like carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and hydrocarbons.

The Archaelogical Survey of India, which should have been the most worried, isn’t. ASI Director General Ajai Shankar says he has not been informed about the movement of vehicles within 300 metres of the Taj. "Even if they do move, the dust generated will not affect the Taj." More dust is generated by summer sandstorms, he says, implying that there is little harm in letting dusty vehicles go up to the Taj, even if they are flouting Supreme Court directives.

However, ASI Superintendent P B S Sengar knows vehicles are moving within the zone marked off-limits by the Supreme Court, but he can’t do a thing to stop them. "I have no statutory power to stop them. It is under the jurisdiction of the Uttar Pradesh government," he says.

The lower structure of Taj Mahal is cleaned twice every day while the whole edifice is cleaned every Monday, says Sengar. "So even if the dust accumulates, it will have no affect on the whiteness of the Taj," he says.

Dusty vehicles apart, the organisers are trying to show how clean their programme is going to be. Yanni will use V-Dose speakers that disperses sound only in a cone before it," says George Veras, the seven-time Emmy award winner who also directed the Yanni concert at the Acropolis. Venkat Vardhan of DNA, the event manger, promises that at 300 metres behind the speakers – which face away from the Taj -- "you can hear a pin drop". And he isn’t discussing rolling pins either.

Veras says this is the first time the Taj will be lit up. But in deference to ASI regulations, the lighting will be "indirect" and with colours to match what the Taj looks like at different times of the day. Filters will also be used to block harmful ultra-violet rays.

Vardhan says there no light more powerful than the sunlight the monument has been subjected to for over 300 years. And sunlight is 28,000 more intense than artificial light, says Shankar. He also said the organisers have informed the ASI that no sound will reach the Taj.

The organisers also claim they are using noiseless and pollution-free generators, the same kind used by pop stars Michael Jackson and U2.

Despite complaints from without, work is going on smoothly on the $ 4 million production. The stage, 100 x 95 feet, has multiple layers beneath and two pools of water on top to reflect the light. There will be seating for 6,500 people in the audience and "there is no bad seat in the whole venue, though the sound will be best in the middle of the Rs 5,000 section," says Vardhan.

Maybe the environmentalists are unhappy, but the volunteers too have their gripes. Friends of Yanni Society, an Indian fan group that offered help, complain Indians are discriminated against. But Vardhan says the only problem has been that two kitchens have been set up, one continental, one Indian. But that is because Indians and Americans have different tastes, he says, adding, "It has been a pleasure working with the Yanni management because they understand the local culture."

Meanwhile, the weather department has forecast light showers near the Taj. "Strange," muses Veras. "It rained even in the Acropolis before Yanni performed there."