Agra civic amenities under scrutiny

Agra is the only city in the world with three world heritage monuments, but while these attract a large number of tourists, both Indian and foreign, the overall appearance of this town leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Now, to improve the experience of the tourists coming to Agra, the Centre has asked the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) to prepare an infrastructural development project for the town at Rs 25 crore.

R K Safaya, executive director (design & development), Hudco, said the company had been asked by the Centre to provide technical aid and consultancy to the relevant departments of the UP government to prepare project reports for the comprehensive infrastructural development and beautification of Agra and submit the report to the UP government within 10 days, which will then forward it after finalisation to the central government.

He said the Centre had decided to invest Rs 25 crore in the first phase of this project, which would be used to develop the area around the Taj Mahal.

According to him, the Centre had assured there would be no constraint of funds for the development of Agra into an international Heritage City, and Hudco will facilitate landscaping around the three heritage monuments of Agra""the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri--with an extensive greenery on the city roads instead of billboards, which will be removed from all main streets of the town.

He said Hudco had done a similar project on the Ajanta & Ellora caves of Maharashtra recently, which had received wide acclaim worldwide. Another such project is under way in Hampi to be completed soon.

Later, talking to Business Standard, Ashok Kumar, commissioner, Agra division, who is also the chairman of the Agra Development Authority, the designated nodal agency of the UP government to interact with Hudco for urban planning, said Hudco has been asked by the Centre to prepare a project report and provide consultancy on giving Agra a new look, but the real task still lay in the hands of the Agra Development Authority and other related departments that would be the agencies responsible for executing the project.