The list of failings is long and the answers are ritualistic. Even the union minister Shelja told the parliament two days ago that the Taj Mahal was safe, scoffing at unrealistic and exaggerated fears raised by Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria who in an interview to the Daily Mail in October had announced the doomsday forecast that the Taj would collapse in five years. Later he denied having made any such categorical statement.

Save for a few competitions for school kids, the ASI did nothing tangible to highlight the grave threats to the Taj Mahal.

Unconfirmed reports however say that the ASI chief in Agra Indudhar Dwivedi has sent a missive to the headquarters to suggest a staggered system of visitors' entry to reduce the growing human load. Conservationists have long been demanding that the carrying capacity of the 17th century monument, a world heritage site be fixed. On days the number of visitors to the Taj crosses 50,000. During the annual Shah Jahan's Urs the number crosses one lakh as the entry is free for three days.

The recent Supreme Court initiative has now compelled the union culture ministry to take the threats seriously. Teams of various departments including the Survey of India are now camping in Agra to study the impact of a dry river bed, and gauging the stress levels or the tilts if any, against benchmarks set up in the past. The 1942 conservation report speaks of 104 benchmarks and recommended annual review, but the ASI rarely bothered to carry out the checks.

"Neither the controversial Taj corridor issue has been resolved, nor has the new committee headed by the divisional commissioner Amrit Abhijat been able to control encroachments all over Agra, dwarfing the monuments," says activist Rajan Kishore.

The ASI, the chief custodian of our precious heritage property lacks the vision and the passion, says Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society. "The list of charges from corrupt practices, including promotion of re-selling of entrance tickets and shoddy conservational work, grows longer each year." It is high time the maintenance and management of the classic heritage monuments in Agra were handed over to professionals and specialists, Sharma suggested.

Agra, has three world heritage monuments - the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri - and numerous other buildings and sites that draw lakhs of tourists round the year.

Perhaps the greatest threat to heritage monuments is the encroachments.

ASI says state government agencies have not provided it much needed support and police backup to deter the encroachers from trespass the restricted zones. One example of how serious about conservation authorities are is the protected Roman Catholic cemetery at Bhagwan Talkies crossing which has been reduced to a vast public lavatory. It is now surrounded by a picture hall, a petrol pump and a shopping complex.

"The entire boundary wall and the open space between the road and the wall is used as an open toilet by auto rickshaw drivers and even policemen. The smaller protected landmarks all along the Bypass road are now hardly visible," says conservationist Shravan Kumar Singh.

The view of the beautiful Etmauddaula tomb from the Yamuna Kinara road has been obstructed by a new bridge, so callously built in the restricted zone. The water pipeline installed by the Agra Water Works along the river bank is a monstrosity and an ugly visual pollutant, he adds.

Almost all the Mughal monuments have been dwarfed by encroachments that not only make movement difficult but pose a serious threat to the bare survival of some of these historical buildings.

The Fatehpur Sikri complex continues to be threatened by illegal activities of the mining mafia which have been carrying on even though the Supreme Court has given a categorical directive to the district authorities to stop. ASI is proving helpless and unequal to the challenge posed by a spate of illegal constructions around protected monuments in Agra.

Though it has been regularly shooting out letters to the Agra Development Authority (ADA) pointing out how the 1958 Monuments Protection Act was being flagrantly violated, the cold response to its complaints has baffled officials of the department.

Agra district abounds in historical buildings or remnants like Jodhabai's chatri, Jaswant Singh ki Chatri, Chini kaRoza, Humayun's mosque, Babar's Ram Bagh, Barahkhambha and scores of other valuable architectural pieces are under threat of losing their identity as encroachers continue to gobble up every inch of space. Once a city of grand havelis, gardens and public ponds, the city is now being rampaged and pillaged by modern-day builders and colonisers who see no use of retaining heritage, says historian Raj Kishore Raje.

Some of the dilapidated landmarks are being used as cowsheds or serve as havens for anti-social elements. ADA officials privately confess that demolition of all illegal structures was beyond their capacity as political pressures would prevent any major offensive against encroachers.

Lesser known historical buildings in Agra continue to remain victims of neglect, even the Taj Mahal the star attraction is facing serious threats from pollution. Despite numerous efforts of various agencies, the dust from the dry river bed and the neighboring desert, continues to raise the SPM level which against a norm of 100 remains as high as 400 to 600 micrograms per cubic meter. "Only during the rainy season it comes down," says a Yamuna activist Nandan Shrotriya.

With the number of vehicles going up each day on Agra roads, and perpetual traffic jams, the pollution level has refused to come down and all efforts at greening the surrounding areas have yielded no significant results.

Questions are also now being raised about the professional competence of the ASI to manage the precious heritage of the Mughal metropolis that during the mediaval period was rated bigger than many European cities.