Underlining the need for water conservation, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday cautioned that the city would face a severe water crisis unless consumption is managed properly.
The Chief Minister was addressing a national seminar on “Water Equipment and Management 2009: Water for All” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here. Referring to the management of water, Ms. Dikshit said a severe crisis is imminent over the next two decades if a water treatment and water management infrastructure is not built up to meet the needs of the growing economy and increasing population.
She said the Delhi Government was constantly reviewing the status of projects keeping these concerns in mind. Industrial expansion and population growth in India and specifically in urban centres have become matters of concern over the security of ground water reserves, she said.
The Chief Minister said while water is a limited resource, its use in the future is going to be shaped by four mega-trends -- population growth, decaying infrastructure, an increase in water quality standards and climate change.
A growing population not only intensifies the demand for safe and potable drinking water but also increases agricultural water usage to produce more food, she pointed out.Referring to the need for having efficient water treatment mechanism, the Chief Minister said the impact of waste on the environment was a matter of concern as well and effluents need to be treated effectively to minimise environmental pollution. She said the Delhi Jal Board, which is responsible for production and distribution of potable water after treating raw water from various sources like the Yamuna, the Bhakhra storage, the Upper Ganga Canal and groundwater supply, also provides treatment and disposal of waste water.
Ms. Dikshit urged business houses to take responsibility and offer their expertise and help to address the challenges faced by the world today. It is increasingly clear that lack of access to clean water and sanitation causes great suffering in humanitarian, social, environmental and economic terms and seriously undermines development goals, she said.
About the Yamuna and its resuscitation, the Chief Minister said her government was awaiting release of funds from the Centre for its proposal to built interceptor sewers to tap effluents that find their way into the river.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
New unauthorised colony mushrooms on Yamuna bank (Hindu -17 November 2009)
The recent regularisation drive undertaken by the Centre and the Delhi Government appears to have emboldened people engaged in promoting unauthorised colonies.
Despite several restraint orders by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Kalkaji), a whole new unauthorised colony with five-storey-high buildings has come up on the Yamuna riverfront at Jaitpur in South Delhi.
The reasons for the rapid pace at which this colony is coming up on a green belt in an “O” zone of the Delhi Development Authority are many. The area is on the banks of the Yamuna and has good access from Kalindi Kunj. Farmers owing land have been selling land away at a reasonable rate, which still is far higher than the acquisition rate. But what has really emboldened the builders in the unauthorised colony is the conduct of the police that has been charging around Rs.50,000 for construction of every 100 square yards of covered area.
“The economics of the construction are driving the mushrooming growth of the colony. After buying a 100 square yards plot for around Rs.6 lakh, a builder pays about Rs.5 lakh to the police for constructing five floors on it. Then nearly Rs.11 lakh is spent on constructing the building which gets ready for about Rs.22 lakh in all. With each floor selling for an average of about Rs.16 lakh to 20 lakh, there is a neat profit in store for the builder,” said a local resident.
This colony started coming up around the same time the jhuggi clusters on the banks of the river were being removed on orders of the Delhi High Court which had also banned construction up to 300 metres on both sides of the river. The Court had also constituted a Yamuna Removal of Encroachments Monitoring Committee targeting encroachments on both sides of the river.
But while SDM Kalkaji Ms. Richa issued restraint orders on construction in Jaitpur village on several occasions this year and even marked copies to senior DDA and municipal officials, the encroachments continued unabated as no action was taken on her directions.
In her orders issued in January and April 2009, she had referred to several builders undertaking unauthorised construction on the land. Referring to the perils involved, she had even mentioned that construction was going on without any sanction in Jaitpur village where “the flood water arrives from the Yamuna river which is dangerous for the lives of the people”.
The matter had also been raised by a Member of Parliament with Delhi’s Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal in August this year. He had also forwarded to Mr. Dadwal a representation of the Jaitpur Village Improvement Committee charging that in collusion with the area police unauthorised construction of five-storey buildings was going on in the Yamuna riverbed.
The chairman of the committee, Pratap Singh Madiyal, had alleged that DDA and MCD officials were also overlooking the unauthorised constructions for monetary gains. With the area being marked as a green zone in the DDA Zonal Plan, the residents fear that such constructions would mar the surroundings for all time to come.
Law takes a battering: Several five-storied buildings are coming up in the Jaitpur area of South Delhi which falls in a green belt in an “O” zone of the Delhi Development Authority.
Despite several restraint orders by Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Kalkaji), a whole new unauthorised colony with five-storey-high buildings has come up on the Yamuna riverfront at Jaitpur in South Delhi.
The reasons for the rapid pace at which this colony is coming up on a green belt in an “O” zone of the Delhi Development Authority are many. The area is on the banks of the Yamuna and has good access from Kalindi Kunj. Farmers owing land have been selling land away at a reasonable rate, which still is far higher than the acquisition rate. But what has really emboldened the builders in the unauthorised colony is the conduct of the police that has been charging around Rs.50,000 for construction of every 100 square yards of covered area.
“The economics of the construction are driving the mushrooming growth of the colony. After buying a 100 square yards plot for around Rs.6 lakh, a builder pays about Rs.5 lakh to the police for constructing five floors on it. Then nearly Rs.11 lakh is spent on constructing the building which gets ready for about Rs.22 lakh in all. With each floor selling for an average of about Rs.16 lakh to 20 lakh, there is a neat profit in store for the builder,” said a local resident.
This colony started coming up around the same time the jhuggi clusters on the banks of the river were being removed on orders of the Delhi High Court which had also banned construction up to 300 metres on both sides of the river. The Court had also constituted a Yamuna Removal of Encroachments Monitoring Committee targeting encroachments on both sides of the river.
But while SDM Kalkaji Ms. Richa issued restraint orders on construction in Jaitpur village on several occasions this year and even marked copies to senior DDA and municipal officials, the encroachments continued unabated as no action was taken on her directions.
In her orders issued in January and April 2009, she had referred to several builders undertaking unauthorised construction on the land. Referring to the perils involved, she had even mentioned that construction was going on without any sanction in Jaitpur village where “the flood water arrives from the Yamuna river which is dangerous for the lives of the people”.
The matter had also been raised by a Member of Parliament with Delhi’s Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal in August this year. He had also forwarded to Mr. Dadwal a representation of the Jaitpur Village Improvement Committee charging that in collusion with the area police unauthorised construction of five-storey buildings was going on in the Yamuna riverbed.
The chairman of the committee, Pratap Singh Madiyal, had alleged that DDA and MCD officials were also overlooking the unauthorised constructions for monetary gains. With the area being marked as a green zone in the DDA Zonal Plan, the residents fear that such constructions would mar the surroundings for all time to come.
Law takes a battering: Several five-storied buildings are coming up in the Jaitpur area of South Delhi which falls in a green belt in an “O” zone of the Delhi Development Authority.
RIVER OF DISEASE (Mint 17.11.2009)
As the Yamuna deteriorates, Delhi’s residents are
becoming sicker and sicker says a new study
Chitra Narayanan (Mint New Paper 17.11.09)
Mumbaikars may die younger than other Indians, ac cording to the Human Development Report 2009 by the National Resource Centre for Urban Poverty and the All India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai (published in the first week of November), but the Capital is none too healthy a place to live in either. Delhi residents dependent for their water needs on a dying river are getting sicker and sicker by the day, finds a soon-tobe-released report.
The Delhi-based PEACE Institute Charitable Trust, which initiated the study to discover the correlation between the health of the Yamuna and the health of the community dependent on it over the last 25 years, unequivocally blames the Capital's increasing ill-health on the river's condition. It has based its findings on data collected largely from different state agencies.
The cost
The study, supported by Ford Foundation, says Delhi's per capita spending on healthcare is more than three times the national per capita: a figure that shows how high its disease burden is. The figures are telling: From just 9,750 cases of typhoid in 2000 in Delhi, the figure rose to 20,864 in 2008. There were 2,850 cases of Hepatitis A virus in 2006, going up to 5,425 in 2008. As for diarrhoea, from 0.13 million in 2002, the figures zoomed to 0.24 million in 2007.
In its 2008 shortlist of 13 killer communicable diseases (those that caused 100 or more deaths that year), India's Central Bureau of Health Intelligence puts acute diarrhoeal disease and typhoid at fourth and eighth positions, respectively. And this is probably the tip of the iceberg.
The report suggests the figures are likely to be far higher since "complete data from private health practitioners and institutions does not reach the government recording system". Indeed, estimates suggest that 71% of Delhi is dependent on private practitioners for health needs.
Study author Pushp Jain directly and indirectly links the rising morbidity to the river that feeds Delhi. The Yamuna contributes 724 mcm (million cubic metre), practically almost all the surface water Delhi has. The presence of bacteria, viruses and protozoa that cause diseases is indisputable. Drinking water contaminated with coliform bacteria can pose risks of ear infections, dysentery, typhoid, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis and Hepatitis A.
A 2007 report by the Central Pollution Control Board on the status of water quality in India found that the total number of coliform bacteria and faecal coliform numbers was the highest in the Yamuna, with a count of 3.2 billion MPN/100ml and 2.3 billion MPN/100ml respectively (MPN is the most probable number). For acceptable levels for bathing purposes, total coliform organism count should be 500 or less per 100ml, and for drinking, it should be 50 or less. In Delhi, it is in billions.
Water that you eat
While there is a direct link between contaminated water and waterborne diseases, the Yamuna also probably has a hand to play in the rising cases of cancer in the city. The report points to the high level of contamination in vegetables irrigated by the water of the river. Not only do common vegetables (such as spinach, radish, brinjal, cauliflower, tomato and cabbage) contain all kinds of pathogens, including Salmonella typhi and typhoid bacteria, they also carry high traces of heavy metals and pesticides, harmful to human health.
Most Delhiites spend a lot on filtering and boiling water, but ignore the perils of eating vegetables, which have been grown locally, raw. Contrary to conventional dietary wisdom, it's best if Delhiites do not eat raw vegetables or salads. All vegetables should be either steamed or boiled.
No safety in going to ground
While poorer households are more prone to morbidity from waterborne diseases, the study finds that the exposure to contaminated water is high across all economic groups. Most higher income households (houses built on private plots, commercial plots, multi-storey buildings, cooperative group housing societies) do not depend solely on the Delhi Jal Board as they have groundwater abstraction facilities. But with the groundwater table sinking to new lows, there is increased chemical concentration in that water too.
"Much of the groundwater in Delhi, besides disappearing fast, is unhealthy, with virtually all kind of contaminants--nitrate, arsenic, fluoride and coliforms.
There are areas with cadmium, mercury and other heavy metal contamination also," notes the study.
Alarmingly, these are above permissible levels, posing serious health hazards.
Quite clearly, Delhiites need to do more to save the river.
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com
HARIKRISHNA KATRAGADDA/MINT
becoming sicker and sicker says a new study
Chitra Narayanan (Mint New Paper 17.11.09)
Mumbaikars may die younger than other Indians, ac cording to the Human Development Report 2009 by the National Resource Centre for Urban Poverty and the All India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai (published in the first week of November), but the Capital is none too healthy a place to live in either. Delhi residents dependent for their water needs on a dying river are getting sicker and sicker by the day, finds a soon-tobe-released report.
The Delhi-based PEACE Institute Charitable Trust, which initiated the study to discover the correlation between the health of the Yamuna and the health of the community dependent on it over the last 25 years, unequivocally blames the Capital's increasing ill-health on the river's condition. It has based its findings on data collected largely from different state agencies.
The cost
The study, supported by Ford Foundation, says Delhi's per capita spending on healthcare is more than three times the national per capita: a figure that shows how high its disease burden is. The figures are telling: From just 9,750 cases of typhoid in 2000 in Delhi, the figure rose to 20,864 in 2008. There were 2,850 cases of Hepatitis A virus in 2006, going up to 5,425 in 2008. As for diarrhoea, from 0.13 million in 2002, the figures zoomed to 0.24 million in 2007.
In its 2008 shortlist of 13 killer communicable diseases (those that caused 100 or more deaths that year), India's Central Bureau of Health Intelligence puts acute diarrhoeal disease and typhoid at fourth and eighth positions, respectively. And this is probably the tip of the iceberg.
The report suggests the figures are likely to be far higher since "complete data from private health practitioners and institutions does not reach the government recording system". Indeed, estimates suggest that 71% of Delhi is dependent on private practitioners for health needs.
Study author Pushp Jain directly and indirectly links the rising morbidity to the river that feeds Delhi. The Yamuna contributes 724 mcm (million cubic metre), practically almost all the surface water Delhi has. The presence of bacteria, viruses and protozoa that cause diseases is indisputable. Drinking water contaminated with coliform bacteria can pose risks of ear infections, dysentery, typhoid, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis and Hepatitis A.
A 2007 report by the Central Pollution Control Board on the status of water quality in India found that the total number of coliform bacteria and faecal coliform numbers was the highest in the Yamuna, with a count of 3.2 billion MPN/100ml and 2.3 billion MPN/100ml respectively (MPN is the most probable number). For acceptable levels for bathing purposes, total coliform organism count should be 500 or less per 100ml, and for drinking, it should be 50 or less. In Delhi, it is in billions.
Water that you eat
While there is a direct link between contaminated water and waterborne diseases, the Yamuna also probably has a hand to play in the rising cases of cancer in the city. The report points to the high level of contamination in vegetables irrigated by the water of the river. Not only do common vegetables (such as spinach, radish, brinjal, cauliflower, tomato and cabbage) contain all kinds of pathogens, including Salmonella typhi and typhoid bacteria, they also carry high traces of heavy metals and pesticides, harmful to human health.
Most Delhiites spend a lot on filtering and boiling water, but ignore the perils of eating vegetables, which have been grown locally, raw. Contrary to conventional dietary wisdom, it's best if Delhiites do not eat raw vegetables or salads. All vegetables should be either steamed or boiled.
No safety in going to ground
While poorer households are more prone to morbidity from waterborne diseases, the study finds that the exposure to contaminated water is high across all economic groups. Most higher income households (houses built on private plots, commercial plots, multi-storey buildings, cooperative group housing societies) do not depend solely on the Delhi Jal Board as they have groundwater abstraction facilities. But with the groundwater table sinking to new lows, there is increased chemical concentration in that water too.
"Much of the groundwater in Delhi, besides disappearing fast, is unhealthy, with virtually all kind of contaminants--nitrate, arsenic, fluoride and coliforms.
There are areas with cadmium, mercury and other heavy metal contamination also," notes the study.
Alarmingly, these are above permissible levels, posing serious health hazards.
Quite clearly, Delhiites need to do more to save the river.
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com
HARIKRISHNA KATRAGADDA/MINT
Friday, November 13, 2009
Curbs on drinking water use coming (The Hindu-12 Nov. 2009)
Smriti Kak Ramachandran
The Hindu File picture of a tanker being filled with water at the Delhi Jal Board in New Delhi. Photo: V. V. Krishnan
Water supplied by Delhi Jal Board may not be available for non-potable use
Commercial and industrial consumers in the Capital in the years to come may not be able to use water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board for non-potable purposes. To take its water conservation drive further ahead, the Jal Board has proposed that all non-domestic users should use treated water for non-drinking purposes.
The Jal Board has proposed that there should be tertiary water treatment plants in all industrial areas. “We hope that over the next five years industrial areas should also have their own tertiary plants. Industrial houses and commercial enterprises should be able to use treated water from these plants for non-potable use. The Jal Board will, however, continue to supply them potable water for drinking purposes,” says the Chief Executive Officer of the Jal Board, Ramesh Negi.
The Jal Board wants the industries and commercial enterprises to put the water treated from sewage to be put to good use, the way it is done in several other cities. “At places like Hyderabad and Bangalore, treated water is used for various purposes like watering the greens and golf courses. In Delhi that is done using ground water, which again is scarce and needs conservation,” he adds.
Aware that the industrial sector may not be keen to invest in a tertiary treatment plant, Mr. Negi explains: “We may do it ourselves, like we are already doing in Okhla or Kapashera, or ask the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation to chip in.”
The Jal Board is already working on a 10 million litres a day (MLD) sewage treatment plant at Okhla and 3 million gallons a day (MGD) plant at Kapashera. Water from these treatment plants will be used for horticulture and other non-potable purposes in the adjoining areas. In Kapashera, the water will be used in the hospitality sector coming up around the airport.
The Jal Board has also made a presentation to the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi proposing that treated sewage may be used for gardening and other horticulture purposes in the Capital.
The water utility has already made it mandatory for all industrial and commercial buildings requiring more than 12.5 kilolitres of water a month to use water generated from sewage treatment for non-potable use.
“This policy has already been made. We have decided that such commercial or industrial complexes will be sanctioned only drinking water needs of up to 150 litres. For the rest, they will have to depend on treated water,” says Mr. Negi.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Renuka Dam gets nod, city hopes for water by 2014 (Indian Express- 11 Nov. 2009)
Geeta Gupta
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has finally given an environmental clearance to the Rs 2,700-crore Renuka Dam project in Himachal Pradesh — an ambitious project undertaken by the Union government to meet Delhi's drinking water needs.
The Delhi Jal Board has already paid Rs 250 crore to the Himachal Pradesh government. The Centre, meanwhile, will be funding 90 per cent of the project.
In 1994, a water-sharing agreement was signed between Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which sought to augment the flow of the Yamuna by constructing the dam. The aim was to provide water to Delhi and generate 40 MW power for Himachal Pradesh.
"Delhi has already paid its share of Rs 250 crore," Delhi's Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta told Newsline.
With the much-awaited environment clearance coming through, Delhi is now hopeful that the project will be ready by 2014.
The dam, to be built on Giri Ganga River, will offer a storage capacity of 542 million cubic metres of water and an installed capacity of 40 MW of power. It will supply Delhi an additional 275 million gallons of water per day.
"The dam was planned keeping in mind the requirements of the Masterplan for Delhi, 2021," a senior government official said.
For Delhi's needs, the water from the dam will be released at the Hathni Kund barrage, from where it will flow into the Munak Canal. "We have to meet Delhi's water shortage over the next couple of years. The dam will give us 275 MGD of additional water. So the government is taking up the project on an urgent basis," Mehta said.
While the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited has carried out preconstruction activities, such as setting pillars and drilling to test soil, the environmental clearance was awaited. "Environmental clearance was granted last week. We are hopeful that the construction gets over by 2014. The process of land acquisition is already over," said Mehta.
The project has, however, faced bottlenecks since its inception.
In 2001, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had rejected forest clearance for the project, based on Supreme Court orders on reservation of sanctuaries. In 2005, after recommendations from the Wildlife Board, the Supreme Court allowed the diversion of 49 hectares of the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary and an additional 700 hectares of 'reserved' forestland towards submergence.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Bon Jour India ( Times of India- 07 Nov. 2009)
Brij Khandelwal
AGRA: After weeks of uncertainty, legal wrangles, tiff with local environmentalists and the generally non-cooperative attitude of the local
administration, the much-hyped French Festival "Bon Jour India" will not be held in the Taj city, for which surveys by French experts and event organisers had been conducted and the venue finalised behind the Taj Mahal.
The French embassy's press counsellor Alain Perrier in an email to this correspondent said, "the French Festival "Bonjour India" will take place next December and January, in 17 Indian cities, but not in Agra."
Yanni's ghost appears to have hit the festival, commented media person Rajeev Saxena. The Greek piano master had in 1997 presented a programme from the river bed behind the Taj. The programme had raised a lot of heat and dust and the apex court intervened to allow the event conditionally after the event organisers promised to meet stiff environmental norms. Yanni had also promised to donate Rs 10 crore to Taj Heritage Fund. The French, however, made no such promise.
What appears to have put off the French Festival organisers was the state of the river Yamuna behind the Taj Mahal. "The stink from the polluted river could not have been washed off even if all the perfumes from Paris had been emptied into the river," says school teacher and editor of a fortnightly School Prangan, Hari Dutt Sharma, a key campaigner for My Clean Agra.
The local Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society president Surendra Sharma in his memorandum to the French ambassador and local authorities had appealed to spare the Taj Mahal and rethink whether the dignity and ambience of the mausoleum would be compromised by holding "pseudo cultural exercises."
Archaeological Survey of India's official in Agra, AR Siddiqui said, "we have nothing to do with the festival as nobody ever asked us for permission. If the venue is beyond 500 metres from the Taj Mahal, the ASI does not come into the picture."
Krishna Mahajan, amicus curae of the apex court said Friday morning on phone: "nobody applied for permission. They had wanted my opinion, both the ASI and the French Festival organisers. I told them to seek permission from the Supreme Court before they went ahead with the programme. A suggestion that came up through interaction with the DG, ASI was to identify a spot close to the Taj, but beyond the 500 metre limit and create facilities for whoever wanted to hold a programme."
Mahajan expressed relief that the Festival in Agra had been cancelled. "They would not let you come anywhere close to their monuments. They are so particular and passionate about conservation. We too have a right to protect our monuments from pollution and other threats."
The Agra Development Authority (ADA) officials on Friday said they had no idea about the festival being cancelled. The ADA had surveyed the area and was coordinating preparatory activities.
UP Tourism officials in Agra still think the grand finale would be held in Agra towards the end of January.
Sources in the district administration hinted security concerns could have forced the French embassy to cancel the Agra part of the event. But with no official explanations coming the whole controversy relating to the festival has taken a queer dimension, particularly after it was widely speculated that the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni were keen to spend an evening in the shadow of the Taj Mahal.
Tourism industry leaders in Agra were sorely disappointed as the Festival would have been a perfect opportunity to boost tourism and showcase Agra in a new light. The president of the Hotels and Restaurants Association, Rakesh Chauhan, REDCO president KC Jain, and many others expressed concern and deep disappointment at the cancellation of the festival in Agra.
AGRA: After weeks of uncertainty, legal wrangles, tiff with local environmentalists and the generally non-cooperative attitude of the local
administration, the much-hyped French Festival "Bon Jour India" will not be held in the Taj city, for which surveys by French experts and event organisers had been conducted and the venue finalised behind the Taj Mahal.
The French embassy's press counsellor Alain Perrier in an email to this correspondent said, "the French Festival "Bonjour India" will take place next December and January, in 17 Indian cities, but not in Agra."
Yanni's ghost appears to have hit the festival, commented media person Rajeev Saxena. The Greek piano master had in 1997 presented a programme from the river bed behind the Taj. The programme had raised a lot of heat and dust and the apex court intervened to allow the event conditionally after the event organisers promised to meet stiff environmental norms. Yanni had also promised to donate Rs 10 crore to Taj Heritage Fund. The French, however, made no such promise.
What appears to have put off the French Festival organisers was the state of the river Yamuna behind the Taj Mahal. "The stink from the polluted river could not have been washed off even if all the perfumes from Paris had been emptied into the river," says school teacher and editor of a fortnightly School Prangan, Hari Dutt Sharma, a key campaigner for My Clean Agra.
The local Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society president Surendra Sharma in his memorandum to the French ambassador and local authorities had appealed to spare the Taj Mahal and rethink whether the dignity and ambience of the mausoleum would be compromised by holding "pseudo cultural exercises."
Archaeological Survey of India's official in Agra, AR Siddiqui said, "we have nothing to do with the festival as nobody ever asked us for permission. If the venue is beyond 500 metres from the Taj Mahal, the ASI does not come into the picture."
Krishna Mahajan, amicus curae of the apex court said Friday morning on phone: "nobody applied for permission. They had wanted my opinion, both the ASI and the French Festival organisers. I told them to seek permission from the Supreme Court before they went ahead with the programme. A suggestion that came up through interaction with the DG, ASI was to identify a spot close to the Taj, but beyond the 500 metre limit and create facilities for whoever wanted to hold a programme."
Mahajan expressed relief that the Festival in Agra had been cancelled. "They would not let you come anywhere close to their monuments. They are so particular and passionate about conservation. We too have a right to protect our monuments from pollution and other threats."
The Agra Development Authority (ADA) officials on Friday said they had no idea about the festival being cancelled. The ADA had surveyed the area and was coordinating preparatory activities.
UP Tourism officials in Agra still think the grand finale would be held in Agra towards the end of January.
Sources in the district administration hinted security concerns could have forced the French embassy to cancel the Agra part of the event. But with no official explanations coming the whole controversy relating to the festival has taken a queer dimension, particularly after it was widely speculated that the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni were keen to spend an evening in the shadow of the Taj Mahal.
Tourism industry leaders in Agra were sorely disappointed as the Festival would have been a perfect opportunity to boost tourism and showcase Agra in a new light. The president of the Hotels and Restaurants Association, Rakesh Chauhan, REDCO president KC Jain, and many others expressed concern and deep disappointment at the cancellation of the festival in Agra.
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