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Vehicle-free zone planned around Golden Temple
WSN Network

Amritsar: The entire area falling within the 500-metre radius of Sri Harmander Sahib may soon become a no-go area for vehicular traffic, the pollution from which is extremely harmful for the golden exterior of the holy shrine.

To evaluate the sources of pollution and suggest steps to safeguard the shrine, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) have started a joint survey. Punjab's minister for environment Bikramjit Singh Majithia has initiated the survey.

Officials admitted that air pollution was damaging the marble, gold and walls of the Golden Temple, so they had no other alternative but to recommend a complete ban on vehicular traffic in the 500-metre radius of the Golden Temple and also on industrial activities nearby the way it was done in the case of the Taj Mahal.

PPCB senior scientific officer H K Parvana said appropriate measures would be initiated to check pollution around the Golden Temple on the suggestions made after the joint study.

The minister for environment said, ‘‘Not only as a minister but as a devout Sikh, it is my first and foremost duty to keep the surroundings of the shrine free from air pollution.'' He also appealed to the residents of Amritsar to keep the area pollution free.

SGPC member Jaswinder Singh Advocate said the committee had already started providing a green cover on the roof of rooms along the ‘parikarma'. ‘‘We also have to re-think the firecracker show at the Golden Temple on Diwali, which causes a lot of air pollution,'' he said.

23 January 2008
 

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