Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, can look forward to a makeover in the coming months.
According to official sources, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has given the green signal for a host of projects that will give the city a much needed makeover.
Agra, incidentally, has always proved lucky for the Samajwadi party and each time the party had held its meetings in the city, it has returned with some good news. Just before the Assembly elections, SP held its executive meeting in Agra and returned to Lucknow to record a historic win in the elections.
Officials said that over the past one fortnight, Mr Akhilesh Yadav has met several delegations from Agra, including businessmen and social activists, and he has patiently heard the problems of the city.
“The chief minister knows that as a city, Agra has the maximum tourist potential due to the Taj Mahal and its proximity to the national capital and we need to refurbish the city in order to attract more tourists,” said an official in the chief minister’s secretariat.
According to the official, there is a proposal to reduce VAT on turbine fuel in order to make it lucrative for airlines to introduce flights to Agra. While facilities at the existing Kheria airport will be streamlined, the new international airport to come up in Mathura is likely to be named after Agra.
To promote the craft of marble inlay work, the government is also planning to reduce the excise duty on marble.
Projects aimed at solving the problem of water shortage in the Taj city are also in the pipeline and the government is looking at a proposal of drawing water from the Chambal river. River front development and revival of the Yamuna is also on the cards.
The chief minister has already cleared a project to streamline and upgrade facilities at the Shah Jahan garden. The canal system will be revived and those who have encroached on land are to be evicted.