"It is easier to reach the moon than to cross the city when humans and animals, plus a wide variety of machines compete for space and speed," said a harassed Australian tourist Lawrence after spending several hours on the Yamuna Kinara road, while returning from Etmauddaulla across the river.

Most tourists who come to Agra want to see the Taj Mahal, the monument to eternal love. However, a nightmare awaits them before they reach the destination in the form of Agra's seemingly never-ending traffic jams.

To address this problem, Agra police has now launched a month-long drive to discipline the "chaotic traffic in the city."

Traffic managers say the real problem is the phenomenal rise in the number of vehicles in the city. "In just three days around Diwali, more than 3000 vehicles were sold." From a few thousand in the 1970s the number of vehicles has already crossed lakhs and the volume of sale shows no sign of shrinking.

To compound the problem, the encroachments on the narrow roads, prove major bottlenecks and slow down speed. "One wonders how much precious fuel was lost in these traffic jams which have now become a perennial problem of the city," says activist Rajan Kishore.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sanjay Chaturvedi, who is also a traffic management specialist, has been trying out many experiments which have helped decongest and de-clog traffic hazard points, has now submitted a set of proposals to the district authorities.

But the tourism sector remains worried. Most tourists avoid visiting monuments across the river. "Such is the erratic traffic that one can see only the Taj or the Fort in a single day. If a tourist went to see some other monuments, he could miss his flight or train. That's a real fear," says Rakesh Chauhan, president of the Agra Hotels and Restaurants Association.

“In the past two years, have seen tourists wasting hours reaching Agra by road. Either they have been held up in traffic jams or caught in the midst of political demonstrations or rasta roko. Despite better road conditions, better vehicles, the 200 km distance between Delhi and Agra continues to take more than four hours. It was the same 30 - 40 years ago when we did not have high speed cars," recalls medical activist Amit Agarwal.

More than half the around five million tourists come to Agra by road. Political rallies, religious and wedding processions, indiscipline driving and frequent road repairs in different parts of the city have left the people fuming with anger. "It was such a bad decision going to Etmauddaula," said Peter Lawrence of Australia, as his two kids amusingly watched lazy buffaloes strolling on the Yamuna Kinara road, obstructing traffic movement.

Traffic jams have begun to hurt the tourism industry, said Sandeep Arora, a hotelier of the Taj Ganj area. 'In the past few months there have been many occasions when tourists missed their connecting flights or trains from Agra after getting caught in the traffic. Come summer, the crisis will worsen,' Arora warned.

School children returning home and ambulances with patients have been left stranded for hours due to sit-in strikes and protest marches. Why don't they act on the issues? Why don't they stop experimenting with people?' asked activist Shravan Bharti.

According to Sudhir Gupta, a social worker, the road and traffic plans generally ignore pedestrians and cyclists. 'We are planning only for 15% people – building roads, flyovers, expressways and other fancy projects. What about the masses?' Gupta asked.

Activists say it is strange that a city like Agra with an international status does not have any nodal traffic expert who knows his job. 'We have the short-sighted administrators, amateur professionals and the selfish politicians who draw up the plans for traffic management in the city. The result can only be chaos, as we are witnessing each day,' he lamented.