Possible Pollution Threat to the Green Buffer Zone around TAJ MAHAL

Abstract

The Taj Mahal is situated at the banks of Yamuna River in the city of Agra. While the Taj Mahal stands with its heritage and speechless glamour, the city of Agra has been growing with a pack of industries since independence. From leather tanneries, dairy farms to marble goods, it has developed a huge number of industries, which have deliberately added on to the polluted air of the city. Several studies have reported that the white marble of the Taj Mahal is diseased with 'Stone cancer', caused by the presence of harmful NOX, SOX, chromium as well as other heavy metal pollutants present in the air surrounding it. Green vegetation, known to absorb harmful pollutants from the air has been planted around the monument to create a 'Buffer Zone' as a measure to combat the disease. But in the experiments conducted in this study it has been found that 'Anthropogenic Factors' are equally harmful to the trees as it enhances the development of infection in the leaves. The tree Mahogany and Mimusops elangi was found to populate the buffer zone frequently which may be upto 50-55%. Hence the infection prevailing in them was studied and it was found to be Mycosphaerella and Cladosporium, causing leaf spot disease with around 45% infection in case of high SPM content (varying approximately between 60-80%). In an artificial stimulated condition with NOx, the infection increased upto 30%, which indicated the acid tolerance and virulence of the fungal pathogen under the effect of acid vapors from different sources and infection could occur even at a high pH of 5.5-5.9. The niche of acidophilic fungi can substantially be reduced by Blitox treatment as tested by reduction in fungal spore count germination by 80% revealed in slide bioassay. So it may be safely concluded that relatively less important timber producing trees and fungicide dusting can effectively restore the social forest belt around Taj Mahal and thereby protect the monument in the long run.