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The Taj Mahal is turning yellow and green due to heavy air pollution

Click to play video: 'India’s iconic Taj Mahal turning yellow and green due to heavy air pollution'
India’s iconic Taj Mahal turning yellow and green due to heavy air pollution
WATCH ABOVE: India's Supreme Court has criticized the government for not doing enough to preserve the white marble Taj Mahal, which has been turning yellow and green due to pollution – May 22, 2018

India’s white-marble Taj Mahal is turning yellow and green as the 17th century mausoleum weathers filthy air in the world’s eighth-most polluted city.

One of the seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal flanks a garbage-strewn river and is often enveloped by dust and smog from belching smokestacks and vehicles in the northern city of Agra.

In this Friday, May 11, 2018 photo, garbage covers the area by the Yamuna river near the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. AP Photo/Pawan Sharma

Tiny insects from the drying Yamuna River into which the city pours its sewage crawl into the TajMahal, their excrement further staining the marble, an environmental lawyer told India’s Supreme Court.

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The court slammed the government for not doing enough to preserve the monument, which was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

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“If the Indian scientists and the (conservationists) can’t do the things, they should be able to contact foreign experts or conservationists, those who can come and they will be readily happy to help,” said lawyer M.C. Mehta, who has been fighting to save the Taj Mahal from pollution for three decades.

Restorers have been using a paste of a clay mineral to clean the marble. It pulls away impurities from the surface and can then be washed off with water.

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Activists are also concerned that the falling water table in Agra may be weakening the wooden foundations. Other worries include roads clogged with polluting vehicles and rampant construction around the mausoleum.

FILE – In this March 22, 2018 file photo, tourists visit India’s famed monument of love, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India. AP Photo/R.S. Iyer, File

Behind Taj‘s back, plastic bags and garbage pile up by the river as smoke billows from a chimney in the distance. Outside the Taj complex, a group of people gathered near a funeral pyre.

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The change in colour has not come out of the blue. Environmentalists and historians have long warned about the risk of soot and fumes from factories and tanneries dulling the ivory monument.

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There was no comment from government authorities. Bhuvan Vikram, superintendent archaeologist for Agra, said he was not authorised to speak to journalists. Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, whose department oversees historical monuments, said the environment ministry was best placed to speak on the subject but the environment minister was not available.

In this Friday, May 11, 2018 photo, garbage covers the area by the Yamuna river near the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. (AP Photo/Pawan Sharma

Tourists visiting the monument said they hoped steps would be taken to save it.

“I think the Taj Mahal is one of the biggest icons of India and I think the city would be better to be cleaner and for the government to do something about this,” said Francesco, a tourist from Argentina who only gave his first name.

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