Yamuna flood waters touch Taj Mahal walls for first time in 45 years

The Taj Mahal was developed in such a way that water cannot enter the main mausoleum even during high floods, an ASI official said. (File photo)

For the first time in 45 years, Yamuna river's flood waters reached the walls of the Taj Mahal in Agra, leaving the garden behind it submerged. The water, however, is unlikely to enter the main monument thanks to its design, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) stated.

"The Taj Mahal was developed in such a way that water cannot enter the main mausoleum even during high floods. The last time the Yamuna touched the back wall of the Taj Mahal was during high floods in 1978," Prince Vajpayee, conservation assistant at ASI, told the media.

Incessant rains have led to an alarming rise in Yamuna's water level and flooded the adjacent Dussehra Ghat and even the outer parts of Itimad-ud-Daula's tomb, located nearby.

ASI officials claimed that other monuments that risk being affected by Yamuna's floodwaters such as Rambagh, Mehtab Bagh, Zohra Bagh "have suffered no damage so far and that flood waters had not entered the basement of the Taj".

According to the official, the rise in the Yamuna river's water level was caused by the release of water from two barrages in the last 24 hours -- 1,06,473 cusec water from the Okhla Barrage and 1,24,302 cusec water from the Gokul Barrage in Mathura, Truth reported.

In April, the Taj Mahal faced another threat from the river in the form of insect droppings. ASI found that droppings of Goeldichironomus -- which breeds in the sewage-filled waters of the Yamuna -- were turning parts of the monument’s white exterior green.

Members of ASI's science division had to scrub the affected parts with cotton and water before polishing the surface again with cotton to restore its sheen.

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