Taj Mahal in Agra will be closed until March 31 due to coronavirus scare

NEW DELHI: Amid coronavirus scare, Taj Mahal in Agra will be closed until March 31. The world famous monument was shut last in 1971 during Indo-Pak war.

For a lot of tourists who wanted to visit the monument, this came as a shocker.

Some though made peace with it once they learned the reason for its closure.

The Archeological Survey of India had tweeted on the closure of monuments until March 31.

https://twitter.com/ASIGoI/status/1239870639281848322

According to reports, the annual three-day Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who built the structure has also been cancelled for now.

For a fact, the Taj Mahal and its surrounding areas got a huge facelift just before the arrival of US President Donald Trump and his wife in February.

The dry and polluted river Yamuna at the rear of the Taj Mahal was the biggest concern for the Uttar Pradesh administration who were engaged in organizing a grand welcome to US President Donald Trump, his wife Melania and delegation members.

The Taj Mahal and its surroundings were made ready for the much-anticipated visit.

500 cusecs of water was released into the river to get rid of the foul smell. Workforce was engaged in cleaning up patches of the Taj Mahal to make it fit for Trump's visit.

Learning from past experience, especially the visit to the city by the then US President Bill Clinton, who is believed to have called Agra a "ghost city", as the streets and the main Mall road was sealed and sanitized to present a deserted look, the district authorities lined up students with flags on both sides of the road during the Trump visit.

The foreign tourists who arrived in this historic city to see Taj Mahal said they were "lucky" and "felt blessed" to visit the 17th-century monument on the day of US President Donald Trump's visit.

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