358-year-old 'Taj Mahal' on the verge of collapse?

New Delhi, Jan 28: The architectural wonder, Taj Mahal has been tilting rapidly in the last 30 years. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has registered an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that the south-west minaret of the monument has tilted 3.57 centimetres.

The filed affidavit stated that there is no cause of concern as the tilt is “within the limits”. The 358-year-old historic white domed mausoleum is India's most popular tourist attraction, bringing four million visitors an year to Agra.

Meanwhile, an MP from Agra claim that the architectural wonder could cave in, in the next two to five years.

The lodged affidavit further claimed that "the results of a recent exercise to determine the tilt of minarets, their horizontal and vertical movements and those of the structure as a whole have shown that the minarets of the Taj Mahal have remained stable and the changes found are insignificant and well within the permissible limits of geodetic observational accuracy."

The Taj Mahal is losing its glamour and the minarets may also collapse as the wooden foundation beneath the wells is rotting due to lack of water.

Visitors were not being allowed to enter the foundations of Taj Mahal by the authorities for the last three decades. But the govt of India is still not making any effort to save the architectural wonder.

The architectural wonder was built by Shah Jahan in 1631, who was grief-stricken over the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal during the birth of their 14th child Gauhara Begam.

OneIndia News