Recurring phenomenon of green patches appearing on the inlay work on northern walls of the Taj Mahal has yet again become a matter of concern for ASI officials.
“We are looking forward to Friday, the day when Taj Mahal remains closed for public viewing. The high concentration of phosphorus in the water and sediments of the river enhances the reproductive productivity of the female insect, which can lay more than one thousand eggs. In 2016, Dr Girish Maheshwari, the then head of the School of Entomology at St John’s College in Agra had explained that ‘Goeldichironomus’ serves as a bio-indicator of water quality, indicating localised water pollution.
“There is need of some ‘real’ work at ground level and to begin with, the nullah (drains) need to be tapped so that water quality added to the river can be monitored.
The city which relies on the Taj Mahal for its economy needs to at least take some sincere efforts to control river pollution’ he said. An extensive drive will be taken up to clean these green marks manually,” said the ASI official, engaged in conservation work at Taj Mahal for ASI, on Tuesday.
Measures to control pollution in the river were suggested to mitigate the insect’s impact on the Taj Mahal. These adults form massive swarms, attracted to the white stone of the Taj Mahal. the chlorophyll within their bodies is transformed and discarded as excreta, staining the Taj Mahal walls green While non-feeders. The root cause of the insect’s growth in the Yamuna is attributed to pollution. Dr Sharad Gupta, a prominent environmentalist in Agra, points out that major drains, on both sides of Taj Mahal, go untapped and add to pollution in Yamuna leading to such fallouts.
The issue has been a matter of concern for the Archaeological Survey of India since 2016. it was previously limited to the hot months of May and June but now these green marks appear during months of October also as seen in recent years when water in Yamuna recedes after monsoon gets over Although the phenomenon has been observed on the white surface of the Taj Mahal since 2015. In 2016, scientists and faculty members at the School of Entomology at St John’s College in Agra identified the culprit behind the issue as the insect ‘Goeldichironomus,’ believed to thrive on the pollution of the Yamuna, flowing behind the Taj Mahal’s northern side. Dr Maheshwari’s report in 2016 highlighted that the insect’s larval form feeds on algae and waste in the river, transforming into a pupa before emerging as an adult.
