BIOMETRIC CARDS TO BE GIVEN TO TAJ GUIDES | AGRA NEWS

18\06\2010 AGRA NEWS
Biometric cards will be issued to approved guides and photographers at the Taj mahal as they frequently move in and out of monument premises.Gearing up for the commonwealth Games,Additional Director General of police has mooted the idea of having fabricated huts at Tajganj police station,near the Taj after obtaining No Objection Certificate from the ASI.
Ramesh Sehgal, the Additional Director General of police was here at Taj Mahal on Thursday to assess the security arrangements ahead of the Commonwealth Games to be held in October.The ADG reached Taj Mahal around 10 a.m and visited various location at the world heritage monument to assess its security.
A meeting in this regard was also held and was attended by officials from various departments including those from the Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF ), Agra Development Authority, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) Archeological Survey of india (ASI) beside the District Magistrate.Senior official of police including Inspector General (IG) Zone,Vijay Kumar and DIG Agra ,Deepash Juneja,were also present.
During the meeting, various issues related to the security of the taj and the handling of the high number of tourists likely to visit the monument during the commonwealth Games were discussed.
Another issue that was discussed was the streamlining of parking of visitors' vehicles along the western gate of the Taj Mahal .This becomes important since a large number of tourists are expected to visit the area during of vehicles being parked here will increase.

SUPER NANO - ITES IN AGRA | AGRA NEWS

18\06\2010 AGRA NEWS
'Super Drive' rally with three decorated Tata Nano cars reached agra on Thursday. Agraites welcomed this nationwide rally with some brand new Nano cars at Radha Swami temple,dayalbagh .
The rally started at 11.15 am. The brand new cars were showcased in red ,silver and purple colours.The rally reached Agra via Delhi with two more cars, which are meant for back up.
When three different models of  Tata Nano were lined up for public demonstration at Dayalbagh, HT City captured the scene .
After garnering accolades from the city residents, the rally moved forward to Sikandra monument. Super Drive rally reached thereat 1 pm and moved to Agra Fort for making this moment historic.
The organisers of the rally informed that this is a promotional rally from Tata motors and will cover 15,000 km distance all over the country.Out of 36 cities,the rally reached Agra in 26 days. Shoppers at TDI mall also enjoyed the event.
Organiser Jatendra pal Singh said," This nationwide rally was flagged off from Sanand, which is a new manufacturing plant for Nano car in Gujarat. After inauguration of the plant by CM Narendra Modi on june 2 the rally moved ahead.
Delhi based professionals Prateek Kumar ,Naresh ,Malkeet Singh,Yogendra and Ajay also took part in the rally.They joined the rally from Sanand.

ASI SET TO CRACK DOWN ON GRAFFITI WRITERS | AGRA NEWS

17\06\2010 AGRA NEWS |
With increase in incidents of graffiti writing on monuments, the Archaeological Survey of india (ASI) is now going to initiate steps to crack down on graffiti writers .
In tanden with the state Government, which will be directing the administration to work with ASI officials at monument sites, the ASI is now ensuring that these offenders are taken to task.
Talking to Hindustan Times on sunday ,ASI superintending archaeologist, Agra circle ,Dr Atiq siddiqui said , "Yes attempts are being made to take such offenders to task who deface walls and stones of his torical monuments . Although rules have been in place to take action in such cases, we are now going to implement them more stringently."
In the past,the ASI has tried to take the offenders to task but with little success.
Not only at protected monuments like Ermadullah, Sikandra , Fatehpur Sikri ,but even at the taj mahal ,monuments have not been able to escape vilification by these habitual offenders .
With graffiti ranging from lovers engraving their names on walls to anything else that comes to mind , there has been no dearth of defacing that has taken place at the monuments. Although the chemical depatment of the ASI has tried to rub off the blemishes ,the process of cleaning includes rubbing into the stone. This can harm the stone irreparably.
The punishment that would be meted out when reprobates are caught would depand on the level of the offense .
The offender would either be fined RS.3,000 or put behind bars for a month.
Siddiqui said although the Archaeological Monument and Archaeological Site Remains Act ( AM & ASR ) 1958 was already in place ,it was revised and amendments made in march 2010.
In the Act , the emphasis was mainly on three points.
It was stressed that encroachments within a 300 metre range of the monument had to be removed , all illegal constructions needed to be removed and that there would be no defacing of the walls of the protected monuments.
Siddiqui added that people needed to be sensitised towards their legacy and monuments and awareness about the same should be spread.
He said the ASI had been holding such awareness programmes at regular intervals to sensitise school children.

STUDENTS PLAY DOWN SUPERSTITIONS | AGRA NEWS

Students of various schools and colleges made an effort to attack on the superstitions prevalent in the society through a street play ' Pappu ban gaya a mahatma ' The play was organised at martyr's memorial ,Sanjay place on Tuesday evening . Preeto Upadhyay has written the play.
These students staged the play under the banner of 'Janchetna Natya Kala Kendra ',which is a group of city students ,The play was produced keeping those people in mind who want to be popular but do not work hard. It also made an effort to highlight those fraud people who make fool of public in the name of superstition and religion .
Students of Lalit kala Sansthan Sunil Shakya and Agam sinha ,Anil Vishwas from Shaha Kumbhari Inter College, Dayalbagh, Deepak Divakar from Ram Chandra public school, Sikandra.Jatin Sharma from Agra College (Law Fuculty ) and Shishir Mudgal from Gayatri public School took part in this play.
THEATRE WORKSHOP FOR ENTHUSIASTS.
Students who want to learn theatre techniques have a chance to do the same Lalit Kala Sansthan ,residential wing of Dr.BhimraoAmbedkar University is organising theatre workshop from June 16-26 starting at 3 Pm daily. Informing about workshop,head of acting department ,Alka Singh said,"Students above 10 years could participate in this workshop. Interested students can also contact me on my number '9368069750' for the same."Acting experts and institute's faculty will train participants during this 10-day workshop.

GREEN FUNDAS OF AGRAITES | AGRA NEWS

15\06\2010    AGRA NEWS 
Hot and humid summer months are uneasy for all they not only dehydrate your senses buy they also take a heavy toll on your mental state . A scenic panorama , colourful outburst of flowers ,green grass covers ,may provide a sense of serenity during hot months.C Tiwari a gardener shares," One plant which is found most frequently in the home gardens in Agra is Kochia . Kochia is highly adaptable it is very drought tolerant and is commonly found on saline soils,deserts ,and coasts .Another plant bougainvillea is probably the most wanted creeper for ornamentation in India .Able to grow fast in dry summer conditions bougainvillea can be grown from root cuttings and branch cuttings and they propagate easily too .They can be planted in sandy soils and do best in dry conditions. They need full sunlight ,warm weather and well drained soil to flower well."
Tiwari explains ,during summer time ,plants should be watered in evening so that the water does not dry out quickly and cow dung manure should be used to draw optimum results.