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SC refuses multi-level car parking at Taj, asks tourists to walk

Denying permission for a multi-level car parking facility near the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Supreme Court on Monday said…

SC refuses multi-level car parking at Taj, asks tourists to walk

Representational image (Photo: Getty Images)

Denying permission for a multi-level car parking facility near the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Supreme Court on Monday said tourists visiting the heritage site should walk instead of riding on vehicles.

“Let the tourists walk to Taj instead of riding on vehicles,” a division bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta observed, almost a month after staying on its earlier order directing demolition of the under-construction parking lot.

The apex court had on October 24 ordered the demolition of the parking lot while dismissing the Uttar Pradesh government’s application for axing of 11 trees to facilitate the project’s completion.

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However, it later changed its stand after additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, told the court that the government was committed to protect the Taj Mahal.

The multi-level parking is coming up one km from the eastern gate of the 17th century monument.

The project site, closer to the Taj Mahal’s western gate, is proposed to house 400 four-wheelers. It aims to ease congestion in the area which led to parking of vehicles on roadsides in the absence of sufficient parking space.

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