The green panel also hauled up the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Agra Development Authority and Agra Nagar Nigam for not ensuring cleanliness.

Uttar Pradesh is unable to protect the Taj Mahal from which it is “making ‘millions”, said the National Green Tribunal on Friday as it reprimanded the Akhilesh Yadav government over dumping of solid waste in the Yamuna river near the monument.

A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said: “You are government of Uttar Pradesh. You cannot protect the Taj Mahal from which you are making millions. You are dumping municipal solid waste in Yamuna just behind the Taj Mahal. Can there be a greater insult to a monument which is a wonder of the world. It is shocking, what can the courts and tribunals do?”

The observation came during the hearing of a plea by Agra resident D.K. Joshi, who had alleged that rampant dumping of municipal solid waste in the Yamuna has resulted in stagnation of water and consequent formation of greenish-black pigments on the iconic white marble monument due to breeding of an insect.

Referring to a report of the Archaeological Survey of India, the plea had stated that the insects were staining the walls of the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The green panel also hauled up the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Agra Development Authority and Agra Nagar Nigam for not ensuring cleanliness and proper disposal of untreated sewage in the river.