AGRA: A fire broke out at a state-owned park, barely 50 metres from the west gate of the Taj Mahal , on Wednesday afternoon. Though no injuries were reported, the smoke that billowed from the fire for almost half an hour could have caused some impact on the ecologically fragile marble of the Mughal-era monument , experts said.According to officials, the fire was caused by sheer negligence as dry wood collected from trees had been piled up in the park. The fire got ignited after someone threw a cigarette in the pile, which also had dry leaves in it.The blaze spread quickly, triggering panic among local shopkeepers and visitors.Talking to TOI, superintendent of government parks, Mukesh Kumar, described the fire as “minor” and claimed that it was controlled within 20 minutes. He said that park was not being used by the public.The west gate of the complex is used as a thoroughfare for Taj visitors . Fire brigade personnel were rushed to the spot. However, by the time they arrived, workers and locals had begun dousing the flames and the fire was brought under control.Abhishek Shivhare, a shopkeeper at west gate of Taj Mahal, said he saw thick smoke billowing from the park. He said he rushed to the spot and saw flames leaping from a pile of wood stacked adjacent to Fatehpuri Maszid Raman, a member of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, said, “This sheer negligence only proves that the apex court is more serious than us while dealing with environmental issues around Taj.” He said the district administration and other officials should be more conscious of the repercussions of piling dry wood in the vicinity of the monument.He said all possible steps should have been taken in and around Taj to avoid occurrence of such incidents.Over decades, the pearly white monument has been turning yellow because of pollution. The government has closed scores of nearby factories and banned the burning of cow dung fuel cakes in the city to prevent smoke from affecting the Taj Mahal.Recently, the SC had come down heavily on the ASI for its failure to take appropriate steps to protect and preserve thew 17thcentury monument. The apex court had on May 1 expressed concern over the changing colour of the Taj Mahal apparently due to pollution and rapped the government saying, “Perhaps, you don’t care.”In March this year, the apex court had asked Uttar Pradesh government to place before it a draft of vision document on protection and preservation of the Taj and the environment in the Taj Trapezium Zone, which is an area of about 10,400 sq km spread over the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

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