Supreme Court order the government to seek foreign help to fix what it described as a worrying change in colour at the Taj Mahal.

Supreme Court on Tuesday sharply criticised the government for failing to protect the Taj Mahal, the centuries-old monument to love which has been changing colour because of pollution.

The brilliant marble of the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO world heritage site, has acquired a yellow tinge over the years. The colour of the marble “was first becoming yellow. Now it seems to be green and black,” a Supreme Court bench said after reviewing recent photos of the monument.

“It appears that you do not have expertise or you have (it) but do not want to utilise it, or you do not care about (the Taj Mahal),” the court said. “You all appear helpless. Money should not be the consideration…. We need to save it,”  court justices said.

The court said the famous tomb, built in the 17th Century from white marble and other materials, had turned yellow and was now turning brown and green.

Pollution, construction and insect dung are said to be among the causes.

Supreme Court justices MB Lokur and Deepak Gupta gave  Modi´s government and the government of Uttar Pradesh state a week to respond.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has criticized  authorities on the issue. In February, it warned that the state government’s “ad hoc” approach was jeopardizing the monument.

Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta examined photographs of the palace submitted by environmentalists and ordered the government to seek expertise from inside India and abroad.

BBC