You all must have heard about Acid Rain destroying Taj Mahal. Here I will pen down the details of relationship between Taj Mahal and acid rain and what are the measures taken by the government to prevent this.
Acid Rain refers to the ways in which acid from the atmosphere is deposited on the earth's surface.
The air around the city of Agra, where Taj Mahal is located, contains fairly high levels of sulphur and nitrogen oxides. It is mainly due to a large number of industries and power plants around the area. Use of poor quality of coal, kerosene and firewood as fuel for domestic purposes add up to this problem. The resulting acid rain reacts with marble, CaCO3 of Taj Mahal causing damage to this wonderful monument that has attracted people from around the world.
As a result, the monument is being slowly discolored and lustre less. The Government of India announced an action plan in early 1995 to prevent the disfiguring of this historical monument. Mathura refinery has already taken suitable measures to check the emission of toxic gases.
This plan aims at clearing the air in the "Taj Trapezium" - an area that includes the towns of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura and Bharatpur. Under this plan, more than 2000 polluting industries lying inside the Trapezium would switch over to the use of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas instead of coal or oil. A new natural gas pipeline would bring more than half a million cubic metres of natural gas a day to this area. People living in the city will also be encouraged to use liquefied petroleum gas in place of coal, kerosene or firewood. Vehicles plying on highways in the vicinity of Taj would be encouraged to use low sulphur content diesel.
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