By IANS
Agra : Uttar Pradesh legislator Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was Saturday served notice by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for unauthorised and illegal construction just 200 yards from the Taj Mahal.
Bhutto’s house in Malko Gali here was being structurally renovated with large-scale additions to the original design. The construction was just 50 yards away from Barah Khamba, another protected monument in the Taj Ganj police station area here.
No construction can take place within 500 metres of the Taj Mahal, according to a directive issued by the Supreme Court of India. But the BSP legislator, according to official sources, not only defied the ASI but also exerted political pressure on police not to register a first information report (FIR).
Police so far have not registered an FIR, despite complaints by the ASI. Senior officials pleaded helplessness as Bhutto belongs to the state’s ruling party.
ASI officials Friday stopped the construction and served the notices. The legislator was not available for comment.
The ASI woke up to the issue only after the media highlighted the irregularity. “The ASI should have acted on its own and taken the preventive measures when the construction on the site began. It was only when hundreds of labourers were mobilised Friday to speed up construction, the mandarins in the department woke up,” said an exporter of the Taj Ganj area.
Informed sources put the blame on the Agra Development Authority which is supposed to oversee construction work and take prompt measures to halt illegal additions.