Pollution turns Lotus Temple marble yellow

NEW DELHI: Two court commissioners appointed by the National Green Tribunal found alarming congestion and traffic chaos in front of the Lotus Temple. They visited the temple on Wednesday as per NGT’s orders to a petition that claimed that vehicular emissions are causing the white marble monument turn grey.

One of the commissioners confirmed that some stones on the temple wall did appear yellow, which may be due to exposure to pollution.

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The petitioner also raised concerns that noise pollution was disturbing meditators at the Bahai House of Worship. The matter has been impleaded in another case against severe pollution in Delhi being heard by NGT. The Bahái Faith is an independent world religion and the Lotus Temple is among only seven such Bahai temples in the world.


Getty Images photo.

“There is a major problem of illegal parking and severe traffic congestion which is obviously causing a lot of emissions. We are not sure about the graying or yellowing of marble though. We will make a detailed report of our observations and submit to the bench within a few days,” said one of the commissioners.

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Another commissioner however said there is indeed yellowing of stones which may or may not be due to pollution. “We have asked traffic police to challan violators and the metro construction project to take care of construction dust.”

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Shaheen Javid, general manager, Bahai House of Worship said, “Over the years we are seeing the stones of the temple facade are yellowing. We haven’t got any scientific study on this done to conclude that its happening from pollution. We haven’t filed the petition in NGT but we definitely agree that there is a lot traffic congestion and vehicular emissions near the temple.”