Yamuna clean up underway before US President Donald Trump’s visit to Taj Mahal

NEW DELHI: Preparations are in full swing to welcome US President Donald Trump in India.

The Taj Mahal is likely to be one of the places that the President will visit during his two-day India stay in India.

Therefore work is underway to get the Taj Mahal and its surroundings ready for the much-anticipated visit.

According to reports, authorities are engaging in a clean-up drive of the Yamuna around the complex. 500 cusecs of water have been released into the river to get rid of the foul smell. The UP irrigation government believes that this will also improve the oxygen level in the Yamuna in Mathura and in Agra, and remove the foul smell.

Photos have emerged of the workforce 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 have decided to line up students with flags on both sides of the road during the Trump visit.

At several points, stages will be erected for local artistes to present cultural programs.

US intelligence agency personnel along with senior state officials have already had a series of interactions. A senior official said more than 5,000 police personnel will line up the main VIP road from Kheria airport’s Ajit Nagar gate to the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal.

A policeman at every one meter is the plan. A major part of the main VIP road passes through the Agra Cantonment area. The military police will man this stretch of the road.

Houses and shops have been listed. Credentials of more than 3,000 shops and houses had been checked. The municipal corporation of Agra has mobilized an army of ‘safai karamcharies’ and anti-encroachment demolition squad comprising retired soldiers.

The State Horticulture Department is sprucing up trees lining the road and painting the tree guards.

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