While human life has perennially been under threat of pollution, monuments haven’t been spared either and are being adversely impacted by contaminated air, experts say.
Among the most evident symptoms of an affected monument, particularly those built in white marble or limestone is the gradual yellowing of the walls, similar to what has been happening to the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Pollutants like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, generated by vehicles and industries, react with air moisture to form acids that eat into the marble resulting in change of colour and even corrosion. The latest casualty in Delhi is the Lotus Temple, which in the present day, stands amidst alarming traffic chaos and is subjected to vehicular emissions which may have been contributing towards the greying of the monument.
The structure which is the last of the seven Bahai’s temples in the world, is made of porous Pentelikon marbles that was used to construct ancient monuments in Greece.
Academic, activist and writer Sohail Hashmi says that to realise the harm met out to the monuments on an elementary level, all one has to do is to rub a wet handkerchief on the wall of the monument.
“A black, grimy muck comes off. But, it is not just dust. It is the unburnt fuel from the vehicles and the sulphur fumes from the industry. These get into the cracks and get accumulated over time. The acid rain seeps in and damages the monuments,” says Hashmi.
“The white limestone doors in Red Fort that were revived in 2010 during the Commonwealth Games have become yellow in about 6 years. This is what pollution does,” he says.
According to a previous statement by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the damage done by pollution is “irreversible” and only further damage can be restrained.
Meanwhile, the odd—even scheme, launched by the Delhi government appears to have come as a relief to the historical structures, with results of having reduced not just the traffic congestion, but also pollutants in the air.
“The impact of pollution on monuments is very slow and long lasting. The lustre goes away and their life reduces. To protect them in the long run, a lot of efforts have to be taken,” says Kapil Mishra, Delhi Minister for Tourism.
Art Consultant and cultural theorist Alka Pande, says “there is scant we can do about it.”
She says that pollution is only an inevitable but unfortunate consequence of the development that India is asking for.
“What can we do? We can’t take them (monuments) and place them in a vacuum. Pollution is part of the process of development. It is an underside of development.”
We can try and clean the environment which of course is being done by Chief Minister Kejriwal. But what else do we do? All we can do is look at sustainable development. It (Odd—Even scheme) does work in the way that it does reduce the traffic.
But how much pollution it reduces, I don’t know,” says Pande.
While Hashmi says he is “in principle in support of anything that helps to reduce pollution,” it is essentially the reduction of private transport on the road that will be able to make a difference. He does not dismiss the Delhi government’s initiative but says that to make it more effective, a sustained “plan” is required where in “the private transport needs to be substituted with an efficient public transport.”
“At least 10,000—15,000 buses must be available at all times,” he says.
Other initiatives being taken by the Delhi government towards the preservation of national heritage include the revival of over 200 historical sites and creating awareness about safeguarding it through the medium of education in schools. — PTI
